































































































































































































































































.... V'"V ... % *”V v*- / V 

tffci'. A * .Wa-- *«_ c^ .yglfef. ^ ^ «>Va\ ^ 





o. *< ». s s A v w .• * a 

_ * As- C * 

. _.__* *b>* .'dStfH*- ** 6 * 

A o. 

0<: v *" ’' ❖ ” 

* * • o, -o ,9 * s V- * 

“ ■ • ^ a* 

O ^ c _7 * 


' ^ iV 

- vv 

_ ,9 vT\ 

“o mb* *G ^ * * • 5 \ 

A.^ . I 


3 .O * 7 * 

1 * r\ ^ * 

* ^ % 

" - ■ % v - 

v **•«- c\ 

• v* *; k 







* Ta a/ v 

1 ° ^ ,# * 


'j>V 


° „\'> V 'V 

■> A » ✓< 





*Pl 


'o y 



cr ® 


■O */y.T^ a" ' <^ <G' 

«* -O yae/T??^* ry G • 

*-. -0 / :£wy : i 

; *° % -.S*^ • ■ ,d °<* d 

...•’V °°J 




• A V «■ „ 



° ~vP S' 

• A V *V ■• 

* V 



* y%, -. 

. VS «> « ^ ’ 

<- '•.•** A° S* 

* A 0 ° A^V °o 
’ ^o< »*J»* *oV 


0 _ * ~yi^M <3r ' ^' A <£* * 



O, *«/1 * A w 
t . 0<r ^ <y % * * * , 



>P%. «. 

~-..* n o ■%. % 
<’• A 0 V, 

0 ™ »>.••/, *> 


« <pj. Aj> * 

l 0 A ♦ 

^S S 




v^» *> 

o > 


v <> 'o',;* O' 

, -o A % 0 ° . 

; ' > oV^ ^ f°\ 


>p ^ 

1 %*»-rr,-.’ A o 

'• ^ ^ 4 ® ' ^ A .r 

r ^-CV « 0 s & 





o • a 


** <■/'' ' < ^ • 

** &♦ ^ . -/r.T'- a 



/ . 4 ^ 

* - 0 A o *■ 

A v ^ * 0 « 0 9 ^v 

9^ *> V .»**- C\ 

«" cCx <;. *■ A 

- :MlA°. < 

; y\ IW* 

,A ^ . 6 ^ ' <A 

> A O N a ^ A> 




^ ^ o 


‘^0 
A q 


^ o« o - '^q A v »1' * ^ *■<£. 0"^ o ° H a -t ' 7 o 

% ^ ^ a C /^Sh<- 0 ^ ♦' 

« ^ v - ^ "bu A ^ 





"o V 



V. 

0c V ** •■*••’ ^ 0 4 ^ ^ ' • ' 1 ' ^ ^ 

T * °% ^ a° * v ^ a° v!^c% ^ 




° <^o S* 

t vP 


•> $ 0 


• • * 4 y 



■ ^ ^ '• 


a\ r 


O • «L 


<•9 vp 

“ 4 <V> A, 

4 ■<3- V r£* ^ 



A y . »■' * ^ ^ 0 ^ c °" 0 ♦ _ ^o . 
















_ * fv V * < 

* * « 0 0 oy 

5 * * A ^ * V 





x'y' 

to. ^ * 


A 


?** . ** t* »?tPPv <y ^ vlllp,* $ t? 

O "»•*'* <Cr \5 ^.\s 4 A <A 'o,** , 

• 1 1 9 ^ (j e, 0 H 9 <* ^O » *■ 1 e * A 

t*s>Y} / ?7 t ?-. "* ‘A- C • ,-C^tV ^^ O j"®" .*■ ^> n^yz-, t 'i _ C, 


O + '*UV’ 4 *’\* 0 ^ 6 . ’ 

°^ "" 1 " ^.° <**. 

v ^ a? - 

• ° tv * 

° to^ S » 

^ ° A^"^, O 

^ * ^y ^ c 


v* 


A . «■ • • * 



^ O' 

-» %£> a ' 

V ** °^ * ™ //f/ _> 

^ * * * o 0 ^ * • r» * A 0 

^ V * Y * °<» c\ 

A , ‘rv ( ^^A*„ 'r 

* *> A V * r( 

; V\ v - £ 


v O "o*'*' 4 

AV ^ 


A 


< 


A ^ o 1 ' ® -p 

^ y&mk c 

y° «5 ^ ■ 

A A o 

A V V - . » 0 ° f? °*, 

6 4.V t> V % • - • • 

.a^v//,= to. y ^ 

b A 


j ^X\\ Yi r/ yxZ * o’ v v , 

o. A^tj. °WMw.* 

t#- . a to °y$^s 

A- '•• ’' y , t> -••*• , 

O^ At o 1 1 6 + ^ 0 



^ v P r * °- c 

: v^ v 

£ v -. 

• ' <v <A -°‘.> ^ t> % - :'.T' ' / 

. ^ A 0 .'^V. ° 

“W P O V 

t- ‘** ■ ’ •’' A°° ^ '■$> 

• ■- \ y *'&\ A^ ' 

: to^ ’M^“, to y . 

♦* /\ - -Sg^- ** v \ \ .., 

^.•‘"*,V ,, ‘’ o^;.--- % V^*>\-‘'** V’’‘‘ o^ c 

t-o^ 



r ^0 

' O <o 5 ^ y _////.,„ , y sr 

>. «...• .A 'v *•<’• ^o ♦..o’ a o 

. • V y ' «=> «• • 

^AV d-V 


<y ^ <lv v, 

• v ' a + ^ ^0^ o 0 rt ® -t '^o 

* \f : 

n 0 ^ " 


- ^ 

- ; 

#ymjrs ^ ^ .V ^ 

aO' ,>".» •> v % 

u At .»j#<aj!V'. ■&■ «. * 

to^ 


v / A' 

A 3 










































ai'L 


* 


/I LLLx-.xf. 

&*<- <rovctVaii'iU- _ XL- X'ku/uA/^ /X XrLte+upL/ 

~{&lJr XLft^ / znCMtit/c^ LXyZjeXyuz. / T4uv>nu*t^XtcL^ .*^e ret ^tte_ 

yt^sytty XXi_ (XL 'H+f'Lz Xe K Jy s&tfeicXb(S (LcVl/LtCiu.^ 


<Xz 'K&-/ (ZT/Z'faX c£&4- V* : fez<.V' XL- L&C LLLL yA^ZZySt- /X ICO T/V* ££^jyX-&- —- 





'XL/ j7<?rCli/- 'Xl&ZZ 


/ii/tt^Hr me te/ > X/e/teXL 




ZXX 


/ 


'VrtiH'L. *T 


r /fZjrJtXLt/tZrtX- 


. &_ — '/'jit//Lot*. gXk. XL 

tL'iuxy~z cLL/ LXLLLix.c> lX /LrLL*/xtZ ct?i*~ jLreXi'-rtte rrf/ 

Xi~ XOL- [ZO'ZAX- LLj <3>frtreS J?JL ^IC0^L Xznrx-^recL Xz<— 

di— ?Hi'/ft%[*t / fzat&Y aztw ‘txcA/'h c LZa-xht vf- 

& •'LCCUOX pcvtcX~ 


"Tazz. — XL '2.^' ^zL. zXjAf- — Jrz^ (LeX 


( 7 


-mi 



.(jl4.lL£t/Xl.e^ y trtsL- 
/ 


e&'OzfyZdtt ^ uji*t- XL tUytee-X/sVZ - ot XL* /L> / V*Lt-£~. A. 

XX XiXe^aXcvyzxJ /cT/fexxeXXr'exrt' (La/ jc-M-et C7zJ *1 Ltt^'tufzX 

1 J^U C> t *— tx/XzziC— zXu — fO ftc*L XzZJ /Lr'uou/ f Xt- JL£tA)/ 

-XX *v xtJH.cJX - & pyr^ LJLrrf Xzf 'VoLXcJ c-tece LcJ 


r* 

yu*~ 


X 


*y - £a r r ' -v ^ vc cv 

H'Layctutu.XX/ S^uiX/ s>ul — AL^jiar^rl. XL _^3¥_ lXXX — /LvXLXcf 

JZk — Zzzcft&Y pL/t f4s>i<Li r { XX^X^zt XlZe__ tL ^%Zctrfcu-<[iX yu/L/ 
fifz>feaX ccu&zrZ ftt*X cLL_ eTdct+nXrt-X&f ndufJLeJJL 

/ XeLhe. ehXzru^X 

XA-'Q** X /J7/CJQiulfti 

LuerenX ffei 

(XX/tttf/ez CL) zT-XXtr/*g~ 
x/tfja&yifteJ /71 if/ts/k) 
zltftl fo-7T?fu na/f^Le Xe^j&A; 
f /7 (* 7?0trd/tte * <<l„ 






DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION 


OF THE 


MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: 

WITH 


TIIE ORIGINAL NARRATIVES OF MARQUETTE, 
ALLOUEZ, MEMBRE, HENNEPIN, AND 
ANASTASE DOUAY. 


JOHN GILMARY SHEA. 


■ WI TH A FACSIMILE OF THE NEWLY-DISCOVERED MAP OF MARQUETTE. 



EEDFIELD, 

CLINTON HALL, NEW YORK. 

1852 . 

-i 

W4- 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, 

By J. S. REDFIELD, 

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the 

Southern District of New York. 


STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE, 
13 Chambers Street, N. Y. 


F^sr' L ' 








TO 


RED SPARKS, LL. 


PRESIDENT OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY, 


Chis IMunit h insrrite, 

C ' 


AS A MARK OF PERSONAL REGARD, 


By the Author. 


























' 




■ 






































































» 


PREFACE. 

It has long beer! a desideratum to have in English the 
early narratives of the discovery and exploration of the Mis¬ 
sissippi. Marquette’s map and voyage have indeed appeared, 
but the narrative varies in no small degree from the authentic 
manuscript, and the map is not at all a copy of that still pre¬ 
served, as it came from the hand of the great explorer. 
These published from original manuscripts, and accompanied 
by the narratives of the missionaries in La Salle’s expedition, 
are now first presented in an accessible shape, and complete 
the annals of the exploration. 

The life of Marquette, and the history of the exploration 
itself, are the result of many years study of the early Spanish 
and French authorities, both printed and manuscript, some of 
which have never before been consulted. 

Besides my own researches, I have been aided by those of 
the President of St. Mary’s College, and of the Hon. James 
Tiger, of Montreal, and I trust that the volume will be found 
to be as faithful as the subject is interesting. 

New York, Sept ., 1852. 



J. G. S. 


CONTENTS. 


History of the Discovery of the Mississippi Valley. page vii 

\ 

Life of Father James Marquette, of the Society of Jesus, first explorer of the 


Mississippi. xli 

Notice on the sieur Jolliet.Ixxix 

Notice on Father Claudius Dablon. 2 

Voyages and Discoveries of Father James Marquette, of the Society of Je¬ 
sus, in 1673, and the following years. 3 

Notice on Father Claude Allouez. 67 

Narrative of a Voyage made to the Illinois, by Father Claude Allouez. 67 

Bibliographical Notice of the Etablissement de la Foi of Father Christian le 

Clercq, Recollect. 78 

Narrative of La Salle’s first attempt to explore the Mississippi, by Father le 

Clercq. 83 

Bibliographical Notice of the Works of Father Louis Hennepin. 99 

Narrative of a Voyage to the Upper Mississippi, by Father Louis Hennepin. 107 
Notice on Father Zenobius Membrd. 147 

Narrative of the Adventures of La Salle’s Party, from February, 1680, to 

June, 1681, by Father Membre. 147 

Narrative of La Salle’s Voyage down the Mississippi, by the same... 165 

Account of La Salle’s Attempt to reach the Mississippi by sea, by Father 

Christian le Clercq. 185 

Narrative of LaSalle’s Attempt to ascend the Mississippi, in 1687, by Father 

Anastasius Douay. 197 

Spanish account of the Destruction of La Salle’s Fort in Texas.208 

Appendix. 

Recit des Voyages et des ddcouvertes du P. Jacques Marquette, <fcc.281 

Unfinished Letter of Father James Marquette, containing his last journal.. 258 

La Salle’s Patent of Nobility. 265 

La Salle’s Second Commission. 267 

Comparative Table of the names on the Map published by Thevenot, and 

Marquette’s real Map. 268 




r 





















HISTORY 


OF THE 


♦ 

DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


I glancing at a map of America, we are at once struck 



by the mighty river Mississippi, which, with its count¬ 


less branches, gathers the waters of an immense valley, and 
rolls its accumulated floods to the gulf of Mexico, affording a 
line of uninterrupted communication for thousands of miles, 
which has in our day peopled its banks with flourishing 
towns and cities. So large a stream, so important a means 
of entering the heart of the continent, could not, it would be 
supposed, long remain unknown — or, known, remain unap¬ 
preciated : yet so, in fact, it was. 

Columbus himself entered the gulf of Mexico, but the 
southern coast only was explored by the discoverer of the 
New World. By whom the northern shore was first explored 
we do not know; but it is laid down with considerable accu¬ 
racy in an edition of Ptolemy printed at Venice in 1513. 
This map is the more -remarkable as the delta of a river cor¬ 
responding to the Mississippi is traced upon it more distinctly 
than in the maps of the next century. Several adventurers 
now sailed along the northern or Florida shore, till it was 



Vlll 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


completely examined by Garay in 1518. Three years later, 
a map was drawn np by the arbitrator appointed to decide 
between the claims of rival discoverers, and on it we find the 
Mississippi again traced on the part assigned as peculiarly 
Garay’s, and on it the name it subsequently bore, Rio del 
Espiritu Santo, or River of the Holy Ghost.* 

Several expeditions were now fitted out to explore and 
reduce the realms of Florida. Brilliant, daring, and adven¬ 
turous attempts they were, and give the time that hue of 
chivalry which almost makes us forget the crimes which 
marked it—crimes, magnified and distorted indeed by for¬ 
eign writers, but still coolly and dispassionately examined 
crimes that we must condemn.f It was the last age of the 
political freedom, of the nicely-poised balance between the 

* These facts and the maps are to be found in an English version of the “ Ship¬ 
wrecks of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca,” printed for private distribution at Wash¬ 
ington, in 1851, for Geo. W. Riggs, jr. The translator is Mr. Buckingham Smith. 

f It is not so much the cruelty here as the wantonness of it that shocks 
our modern taste. That was an age of cruelty. The Spaniard, from his long 
guerilla wars with the early Moors, was necessarily a man used to blood: and 
when the Reformation came, and the new religionists sprang at the rich plunder 
of the churches, those who adhered to old ideas clung to them with desperation ; 
and when deprived of them, unable to retaliate on the church property of their 
antagonists who had none, vented their rage on their spoilers themselves. In 
countries where the advocates of the new ideas had not entered, the example of 
what had occurred elsewhere taught the old-idea party to prevent their entrance 
at all hazard, if they wished to worship at the shrines raised by their ancestors. 
Had they been angels, they might- have been mild; but they were men, and 
necessarily cruel, and the retaliations were so too. The sixteenth century, then, 
is marked by constant scenes of blood, not only in America, but in Europe, and 
only bigots would attempt to represent any one case as isolated and build a the¬ 
ory on it. In this age, and from this very cruelty, the English and French 
navies rose; both were in their origin piratical flotillas, which lived by plunder¬ 
ing the Spanish main and the rich argosies which were crossing to Cadiz. 
Even these bore a religious appearance, for the mariners, not only of England 
but of France, at the time professed a horror of the religion of the Spaniard, 
equalled only by their love for his gold. In fact, it is not easy to express now 
all that a Spaniard, on terra firma or the Spanish main, comprised in that fearful 
word “herege.” 


OF TIIE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


ix 


ruler and the ruled. Not yet had the world been startled by 
the extremes of a claim of divine right in the person of the 
monarch, and annual revolutions in the name of the people. 
The Spaniard was the freest man in Europe: the various pow¬ 
ers of the state, still unbroken, maintained on each other that 
salutary check which prevents all tyranny. The time was 
yet when the tutor of the heir-apparent of the Spanish crown 
could inculcate on his pupil the doctrine that a tyrant might 
be put to death; while, at the same time, the people were 
taught that religion required their obedience to the ruling 
powers, with submission and support from which only extreme 
cases could absolve them.* 

Besides this, “ many circumstances concurred at this epoch 
of overwrought excitement, violence, and a mania for discov- 
ery by land and sea, to favor individuality of character, and ena¬ 
ble some highly-gifted mind to develop noble germs drawn from 
the depth of feeling. They err,” says Humboldt, “ who be¬ 
lieve that the Spanish adventurers were incited by mere love 
of gold and religious fanaticism. Perils always exalt the po¬ 
etry of life; and besides, this remarkable age, unfolding as it 
did new worlds to men, gave every enterprise and the natural 
impressions awakened by distant travels, the charm of nov¬ 
elty and surprise.” 

Leon, Cordova, and Ayllon, had successively found death 
on the shores of Florida; but the spirit of the age was not 
damped: in 1528, Pamphilus de Narvaez undertook to con¬ 
quer and colonize the whole northern coast of the gulf. He 
landed, and, after long and fruitless marches, returned to the 
coast, and in wretched boats endeavored to reach Tampico. 
Almost all perished: storms, disease, and famine, swept them 

* Mariana’s De Rege Tvranno was written for a Spanish prince, 


X 


HISTORY OF TIIE DISCOVERY 


away, and the coast was whitened with their bleaching 
bones. A few with Cabeza de Yaca were thrown on an 
island on the coast of Mississippi. After four years’ slavery ? 
De Yaca escaped and struck inland with four companions. 
Taken for supernatural beings, they became the medicine¬ 
men of the tribes through which they passed, and, with as 
little difficulty as the Indian jugglers, established their repu- 
tation. With lives thus guarded by superstitious awe, they 
rambled across to the gulf of California, traversing the bison- 
plains and the adobe towns of the half-civilized natives of 
New Mexico, perched on their rocky heights. De Yaca is the 
first known to have traversed our territory from sea to sea. 
In this long wandering, he must have reached and crossed 
the Mississippi; but we in vain examine his narrative for 
something to distinguish it from any other large river that he 
met. He remains then in history, in a distant twilight, as 
•the first European known to have stood on the banks of the 
Mississippi, and to have launched his boat upon its waters; 
but his “shipwrecks” shed no new light on its history.* 

When he and his companions suddenly appeared amid 
their countrymen in Mexico, their strange accounts, and an 
air of mysterious secresy which they affected, gave a new 
impulse to the adventurous spirit of the age. In the spring 
of 1539, two attempts were made to reach the realm in the 
interior, which De Yaca had protested to be “the richest 
country in the world.” One of these expeditions started from 
the Pacific, the other from the Atlantic. The former was led 
by the Franciscan friar Mark, a native of Nice in Italy, who, 
burning with a desire of conquering for Christ the many 
tribes within, set out with a negro companion of De Yaca’s 

* De Vaca’s narrative in Spanish is in Barcia’s collection, and in French in 
that of Ternaux-Compans. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI EIVER. 


XI 


from Culiacan, and crossing the desert wastes, reached the 
Colorado; but after gazing from a commanding height on the 
embattled towers of Cibola, with its houses rising story above 
story, and its gateways so well glazed that they seemed 
masses of turquoise, returned with baffled hopes, for the na¬ 
tives had refused him entrance, and actually cut off his negro 
guide and a large party of friendly Indians. Friar Mark, on 
his return, raised the hopes of the Spanish authorities still 
higher, and his statements, apparently true in themselves, were 
so understood by the excited imaginations of all, as to leave 
impressions far from the reality. An ideal kingdom rose into 
existence, and a new expedition was projected. This reached 
the valley of the Mississippi; but before we trace its course, 
we must go back to the Atlantic expedition of 1539.* 

It was commanded by the successful Ferdinand de Soto, 
who had risen by the conquest of Peru to rank and wealth, 
and was now governor of the rich island of Cuba. With a 
force far superior to any that had yet landed on the continent, 
he entered Florida, and, with his gallant array, struck into 
the unknown interior. The Mississippi, under the name of 
Espiritu Santo, was not unknown to him; for, after proceed¬ 
ing westward and turning slightly northeast to Hurripacuxi— 
after striking westward to Eteocale, whose heroes wore (the 
natives said) helmets of burnished gold — after carrying, by 
stubborn fight, the gallant town of FTapetuca—after pressing 
on through Ivetachuco, fired like another Moscow by its 
dauntless people — after reaching Anaica Apalache, — he 
sent Maldonado back to Havana, with orders to meet him in 
six months at the mouth of the Mississippi-! 

* The narrative of Friar Mark is in the Appendix to the Narrative of Casta- 
fiedo de Najera, published by Ternaux. It deserves to be read, for it is not so 
much a fiction as is generally supposed. 

f Historical Coll, of Louisiana, vol. ii., p. 99. 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


• • 

Xll 

Here began his second campaign; lured by the glittering 

promises of an Indian guide, he marched to the northeast, 

crossing the Altamalia, and perhaps entered the territory of 

Carolina, a land full of remembrances of Ayllon. Weary 

with a march of twelve hundred miles, his men were fain to 

settle there; but no, on they must go, and turning northward, 

he traversed unconsciously the golden sands of the Cha- 
• 

laques, with a heavy heart, for it was poor in maize. At last 
he reached a great river by the western course, and with his 
mind still full of great hopes from the river of Espiritu Santo, 
he took the Coosa for the Mississippi, and traced it to its 
source,* then following down its gentle current, crossing as 
villages invited him, he reached Mavila to waste the lives 
and property of his men in a terrible contest with the gigan¬ 
tic Tuscalosa, the chieftain of the land. Here any but the 
resolute Soto would have renounced his schemes, and joined 
his vessels in Pensacola bay; but no, though winter was 
coming on, lie marched north, fighting his way across river 
after river to the heart of the Chickasaw country, and win¬ 
tered there, although they, too, burned their village in which 
the invaders were quartered ; thence he marched northwest 
to the country of the Alibamons, who threw up a palisade 
entrenchment to prevent his passage. With considerable 
loss De Soto carried it, and captured corn enough to carry 
him across the desert land to Quizquiz, and here at last he 
really came to the long-sought Rio del Espiritu Santo. It 
was the Mississippi. Here all doubt vanishes. Listen to the 
characteristic description of the most detailed narrative. 
u The river,” says the unknown Portuguese, “was almost 
half a league broad; if a man stood still on the other side, it 
could not be discerned whether he was a man or no. The 

* Historical Coll, of Louisiana, vol. ii., p. 101. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. xfii 

river was of great depth, and of a strong current; the water 
was always muddy; there came down the river continually 
many trees and timber, which the force of the water and 
stream brought down.”* And the inhabitants were not un¬ 
worthy of the great river. “ The cacique came with two 
hundred canoes full of Indians with their bows and arrows, 
painted, with great plumes of white and many-colored 
feathers, with shields in their hands, wherewith they de¬ 
fended the rowers on both sides, and the men of war stood 
from the head to the stern, with their bows and arrows in 
their hands. The canoe wherein the cacique sat, had a can- 
opy over the stern, and he sat beneath it, and so were the 
other canoes of the principal Indians. And from under the 
canopy where the chief man sat, he commanded and gov¬ 
erned the other people. 

From the frequent mention of the river in Biedma’s nar¬ 
rative we may infer that allusion to it was suppressed, or at 
most, mysteriously made by De Yaca, and that it was sup¬ 
posed to be the key to his land of gold. Certain it is, that 
their hopes seem here to brighten ; they build boats, the first 
European craft to traverse the river, and crossed to the west¬ 
ern side some twenty or thirty miles, as modern investiga¬ 
tors tell us, below the mouth of the Arkansas.f 

The country now reached by the Spaniards, was one of 
large and populous towns, well defended by walls and 
towers, pierced with regular loop-holes, and surrounded by 
well-made ditches. De Soto ascended the river, and striking 
on a higher, drier, and more champaign country than he had 
yet seen, proceeded onward to Pacaha, a place it would not 
be easy now to locate. The Mississippi was thus explored 

* Historical Coll, of Louisiana, vol. ii., p. 168. 

•j* See tlie opinions collected in Bancroft, vol. i., p. 51. 


XIV 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


for a considerable distance; but far other than commercial 
or colonial projects filled the mind of De Soto; he stood by 
what he knew an outlet to the sea, a great artery of the con¬ 
tinent, but his splendid array had dwindled down, and the 
rich realm of De Yaca had not yet rewarded his many toils. 
Nerved by despair, he marched northeast till he found himself 
among the wandering Indians of the plains, with their portable 
cabins. This was his highest point, and could not have been 
far from the Missouri. ITe then turned southwest again to the 
Arkansas, at the large town of Quigata, to seek guides to lead 
them to the southern sea; but Coligoa beyond the mountains 
tempted him to the northwest again; yet Coligoa ill-repaid their 
toil; it was poorer than the well-built towns they had left 
behind. Striking west and southwest again, he seems to have 
once more reached the Arkansas at Cayas, and ascended it 
to the town of Tanico, with its lake of hot water and saline 
marshes. Turning then to the south and east, he again reached 
Yicanque also on the Arkansas, and wintering there, descend¬ 
ed it in the spring of 1542 to die on the banks of the Missis¬ 
sippi ; after having thus explored the valley of the Arkansas, 
and examined its inhabitants, who, from the scanty notices 
we have, seem quite different from those afterward found 
there, and apparently an offshoot of the New Mexican tribes.* 

De Soto was now dead, the expedition was abandoned, 
the only object was to leave the fatal country. Muscoso, 
their new leader, despaired of reaching the gulf by the 
Mississippi, and struck westward in hopes of reaching New 
Spain, as De Yaca had done. In this western march of over 
seven hundred miles, he explored a considerable part of the 
valley of the Eed river, passing by the tribes which were not 

* In confining these rambles of De Soto to the valley of the Arkansas, I am 
not alone; see M'Culloch's Researches, pp. 529, 531, cited by Bancroft. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


XV 


expelled or exterminated when the country was ultimately 
explored by the French. Hazacahoz, in the province of Gu- 
asco, was the most westerly town in their march. Here they 
found turquoises, pottery, and cotton mantles from Hew Mex¬ 
ico, and even an Indian woman who had escaped from the 
Pacific expedition, of which we shall next speak. From her 
statement, and the account given by the Indians of the large 
river of Daycao to the west, they marched ten days more, 
and crossing this river, probably the Pecos branch of the Pio 
Grande, found themselves in the country of the roving tribes. 
Disheartened at the prospect before him, Muscoso returned 
to the Mississippi, and ascending above Guachoya where De 
Soto had died, entered at Aminoya, and working up all their 
chains and iron into nails, began to build vessels to navigate 
the Mississippi. The place where these first brigantines 
were built, has not been clearly settled, its Indian name 
Aminoya has left no trace. Here “ seven brigantines were 
constructed, well made, save that the planks were thin, be¬ 
cause the nails were short, and were not pitched, nor had 
any decks to keep the water from coming in. Instead of 
decks, they laid planks, whereon the mariners might run to 
trim their sails, and the people might refresh themselves 
above and below.” They were finished in June, and “it 
pleased God that the flood came up to the town to seek the 
brigantines, from whence they carried them by water to the 
river.” Thus three hundred and twenty-two Spaniards sailed 
from Minoyaon the 2d of July, 1543, and passing Guachoya, 
were attacked by the people of Quigalta, who pursued them 
for many days, and did considerable harm to the little fleet. 
At last, however, on the eighteenth day they reached the 
gulf of Mexico, after having sailed, as they computed, two 
hundred and fifty leagues down the river. Thence, after 


xvi 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


many clangers and hardships, the survivors coasting along 
reached Tampico, “ whereat the viceroy and all the inhabi¬ 
tants of Mexico wondered,” says the chronicle.* 

Such is, in brief, the history of the Mississippi as explored 
by De Soto, and his successor, Muscoso, the first who sailed 
“Down the great river to the opening gult‘.” 

The account they gave received additional confirmation 
from the second expedition of Father Mark’s from the Pacific 
coast. This expedition commanded by Coronado, and guided 
by the adventurous missionary, reached and took Cibola, which 
proved of little value. Ascending the Colorado, the com¬ 
mander left its valley and crossed the Pio Grande in search 
of Quivira; a faithless guide promised him gold in all abun¬ 
dance, and others as faithless now led him up and down the 
prairies watered by the upper branches of the Arkansas and 
Platte. He was thus on the upper waters of the former river, 
in 1542, at the time when Muscoso heard of him by his run¬ 
away slave; but neither trusted the accounts which he re¬ 
ceived and they did not meet. At Tiguex before he reached 
the Pio Grande, Coronado had found a “Florida Indian” 
whose description of the Mississippi tallies quite well with 
with that of the gentleman of Elvas. “ This river in his 
country,” he said, “ was two leagues wide, and that they found 
fish in it as large as horses, and that they had on it canoes 
which could hold twenty rowers on each side : and that the 
lords sat at the stern under a canopy.”f At the Pio Grande, 
too, Coronado heard from the Querechos, or roving Indians 
of the plains, “ that marching toward the rising sun, he 
should meet a very great river, the banks of which he could 

* For an account of De Soto’s expedition, see Biedma’s narrative, and that of 
the gentleman of Elvas, in Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. ii. La Flori¬ 
da del Inca, is a romance. 

■j- Castanedo de Nagera in Ternaux, p. *1*1. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Xvii 

follow ninety days without leaving inhabited country. They 
added that the first village was called Haxa, that the river 
was more than a league wide, and that there was a great 
number of canoes.”* 

Such clear accounts of a great river, which the party of 
De Soto had found navigable for at least a thousand miles, 
would naturally have drawn attention to it; but we find no 
notice of any Spanish vessels entering the river to trade in 
furs or slaves, or simply to explore. Accident occasionally 
brought some to its banks, but these visits are few and brief, 
and they led to no result. Thus, in 1553, a rich argosy from 
Yera Cruz, after stopping at Havana, was wrecked on the 
Florida coast, and a few survivors reached Tampico by land, 
escaping from the constant and terrible attacks of the na¬ 
tives, f In consequence of this and other disasters the king, 
in 1557, ordered the reduction of Florida, and an army of 
1,500 men was fitted out two years after under Don Tristan 
de Luna, who carried with him every survivor of any expe¬ 
dition or shipwreck in Florida, who could be found. 

De Luna reached St. Mary’s bay in safety, and had sent 
back two vessels to announce his arrival in Florida, when a 
sudden storm came on, and all his vessels were dashed to 
pieces. Thus left in as miserable a state as any shipwrecked 
party before, Tristan was not disheartened ; he advanced to 
an Indian town Hanipacna, which had been taken and 
wasted by De Soto.J Hearing very flattering accounts of the 
rich country of Coosa, he despatched a party of two hundred 
there, under his sargente mayor accompanied by tw r o Domin¬ 
icans. The party reached Coosa in safety, entered into an 
alliance offensive and defensive with the cacique, who w T as 

* Castanedo de Eager a in Ternaux, p. 117. f Emayo Crono ad ann. 

\ It must be the Napetuca of the Portuguese relation. For De Luna, see Em . 
Cron. 1559. 


B 


xviii HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 

then at war with the Napochies (probably the Natchez), who 
lay on the Ochecliiton, or great water, which the Spaniards 
took to be the sea. An expedition was soon set on foot 
against the Natchez, and the cacique went at the head as 
chief of Coosa never went before, on a gallant Arabian steed, 
with a negro groom at his horse’s head. Defeating the ene¬ 
my, they reached the Ochechiton which proved to be a 
mighty river, the Rio del Espiritu de Santo, in other words, 
the Mississippi, thus reached again by the Spanish adventur¬ 
ers and missionaries. Revolts had meanwhile arisen in De 
Luna’s camp, and vessels soon came to bear the survivors 
back to Mexico, and none now looked in hope to that fatal 
quarter. 

The entrance of some missionaries into New Mexico in 
1580, though fatal to themselves, led to new expeditions, and 
to the final establishment of Spanish colonies there; here as 
before, they heard continually of the Mississippi, or Rio 
Grande del Espiritu Santo, and some seem actually to have 
reached it ;* but no steps were taken to explore it, and the Rio 
Grandee is so called merely because some one mistook it for 
the great river of De Soto.f 

A work published in 16304 ^ as indeed an account of a 
Portuguese captain, Vincent Gonzalez, who is said to have 
sailed up a large river between Apalache and Tampico, and 
to have approached quite near the kingdom of Quivira, but 
though this is supposed by the author to be the Espiritu 
Santo, the notice is too vague to found any inference. 

The Mississippi was now forgotten, and although explored 
for at least a thousand miles, known to have at least two 

* See Ensayo Chronologico, p. 170; and tit Bonilla Torquemada, vol. iii., p. 358. 

f I have seen this fact stated, but can not now state the work. 

% Benavides Memorial. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


xix 


branches equal in size to the finest rivers of Spain, to be 
nearly a league wide and perfectly navigable, it is laid down 
on maps as an insignificant stream, often not even distin¬ 
guished by its name of Espiritu Santo, and then we are left to 
conjecture what petty line was intended for the great river 
of the west.* 

The Spaniards had thus abandoned the valley of the Mis¬ 
sissippi, and a few years after the French at the north began 
to hear of it, and it was finally reached and explored by the 
Jesuit missionaries, the great pioneers of the north and west. 
Quebec was founded by Champlain, in 1608. He was soon 
joined by Recollect friars, and wdiile he entered the Seneca 
country with his Huron allies, the intrepid Father Le Caron 
had ascended the Ottawa and reached the banks of Lake 
Huron. Subsequently others joined him there ; they invited 
the Jesuits to aid them, and the tribes in the peninsula were 
visited from Detroit to Niagara, and from Lake Nipissing to 
Montreal. The capture of Canada by the English, in 1629, 
defeated any further missionary efforts for a time; but it was 
restored in 1632, and the Jesuits sent out to continue the mis¬ 
sions alone. They u now became the first discoverers of the 
greater part of the interior of this continent. They were the 
first Europeans who formed a settlement on the coast of 
Maine, and among the first to reach it from the St. Lawrence. 
They, it was, who thoroughly explored the-Saguenay, dis¬ 
covered Lake St. John, and led the way overland from Que¬ 
bec to Hudson’s bay. It is to one of them that we owe the 
discovery of the rich and inexhaustible salt springs of Onon- 

* An English voynge np in 1648, or thereabouts, and a Spanish one up into 
New York by the Mississippi and Ohio, in 1669, have found advocates; but I 
confess mv skepticism. That a ship may have occasionally entered the Delta, 
is not improbable, and Indian report, seems to fix one somewhere near 1669. 
See Sparks's Life of La Salle, Life of Marquette, Denton's Neio- York. 


XX 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


daga. Within ten years of their second arrival, they had 
completed the examination of the country from Lake Superior 
to the gulf, and founded several villages of Christian neo¬ 
phytes on the borders of the upper lakes. While the inter¬ 
course of the Dutch was yet confined to the Indians in the 
vicinity of Fort Orange, and five years before Elliott of Xew- 
England had addressed a single word to the Indians within 
six miles of Boston harbor the French missionaries planted 
the cross at Sault Ste. Marie, whence they looked down on 
the Sioux country and the valley of the Mississippi. The 
vast unknown west now opened its prairies before them. 

“Fortunately the early missionaries were men of learning 
and observation. They felt deeply the importance of their 
position, and while acquitting themselves of the duties of 
their calling, carefully recorded the progress of events around 
them.”* Year after year these accounts reached Europe, 
and for a long time were regularly issued from the press, in 
the same epistolary form in which they were written. 

In the history of the French colonies, they are a source 
such as no other part of the country possesses. For our pres¬ 
ent purpose, they have been invaluable; from them we can 
trace step by step, the gradual discovery of the Mississippi. 

As early as 1639, the adventurous and noble hearted sieur 
FTicolet,f the interpreter of the colony had struck west of the 

* O’Callaghan, Jesuit Relations. 

t As we are perhaps the first to advance the claim of the sieur Nicolet, it 
may not be amiss to give a meager sketch of a man too much unknown, though 
he occupied an important place in the early history of Canada. He came out to 
Canada in 1618, and was never from that time unemployed. Almost immedi¬ 
ately after his coming, he was sent to the plundering TIonqueronons, or Indians 
of the island, above the Chaudiere falls on the Ottawa. Here he remained two 
yea s, often s iffei ing from hunger and their brutality, hut finally acquired a 
great knowledge of the Algonquin. After this, he was sent with four hundred 
Algonquins to make peace with the Iroquois, and completely succeeded in his 
mission. He was then for eight or nine years stationed among the Nipissings, 
and became almost as Indian as they. After the restoration of Canada to France 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI EIYEK. 


XXI 


Hurons, and, reaching the last limit of the Algonquins, found 
himself among the Ouinipegou (Winnebagoes), u a people 
called so, because they came from a distant sea, but whom 
some French erroneously called Puants,” says this early ac¬ 
count. Like the HadSebis they spoke a language distinct from 
the Huron and Algonquin. With these Hicolet entered into 
friendly relations, and exploring Green bay, ascended Fox 
river to its portage, and embarked on a river, flowing west; 
and says Father Yimont, “ the sieur Hicolet who had pene¬ 
trated furthest into those distant countries, avers that had he 
sailed three days more on a great river which flows from that 
lake [Green bay], he would have found the sea.” This shows 
that Hicolet like De Luna’s lieutenant mistook for the sea, the 
Indian term Great Water , applied to the Mississippi. It is 
certain then, that to Nicolet is due the credit of having been 
the first to reach the waters of the Mississippi. The hope of 
reaching the Pacific now aroused the courage of the mission¬ 
aries, some fathers invited by the Algonquins were to be sent 
to “ those men of the other sea,” but, adds Yimont prophet¬ 
ically, u Perhaps this voyage will be reserved for one of us 
who have some little knowledge of the Algonquin.”* 

he was made interpreter and commissary of the colony, which office he filled till 
he was sent, about 1639, to Green Bay, and the Men of the sea, where he met 
an assembly of four or five thousand men, and concluded peace with them. It 
must have been at this time that he ascended the Fox river to the Wisconsin. Re¬ 
turning to Quebec, he succeeded Olivier as commissary, and retained this office 
till his death. In 1641, we find him with F. Ragueneau, negotiating a peace 
with the Iroquois, at Three-Rivers. In 1642, sent from Quebec to Three-Rivers, 
to rescue a poor Abenaqui from the hands of some pagan Algonquins, he set out 
in a small boat on the 31st of October, at sunset with Savigni, but a storm came 
on, and their little craft capsized near Sillery. Savigni swam to the shore, Ni- 
colet, unable to swim, sank to rise no more. Thus perished, in a work of Chris¬ 
tian charity, the sieur Nicolet, the first Frenchman who reached the waters of 
the Mississippi. See Rel. 1639-’40, p. 135. Iiel. 1640-’41, ch. ix. Rel. 1642-’43, 
p. 8. Creuxius , p. 359. 

* Rel. 1639-40, pp. 132, 135, &o. The Lac des Puans is laid down on Cham¬ 
plain’s map of 1632; but in all probability, only from report, as it is placed 


xxu 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


In 1641, two Jesuits from the Huron mission, the illustrious 
Isaac Jogues and Charles Raymbout were actually sent to 
Sault St. Mary’s, and they too heard of the Sioux and the river 
on which they lay, and they burned to enter those new realms 
and speak that language yet unknown, which fell so strangely 
on their ears now used to Huron and Algonquin sounds.* 

The next year the Iroquois war broke out in all its fury; 
and the missionaries bad to abandon all hopes of extending 
to the west. The war proved fatal to the allies of the French; 
by 1650, all Upper Canada was a desert, and not a mission, 
not a single Indian was to be found, where but a few years 
before the cross towered in each of their many villages, and 
hundreds of fervent Christians gathered around their fifteen 
missionaries. The earth still reeked with the blood of the 
pastor and his flock; six missionary fathers had fallen by 
the hands of the Iroquois, another had been fearfully mutil¬ 
ated in their hands. But scarce was there a ray of peace 
when the survivors, were again summoned to the west. A 
field opened on Lake Superior. Father Garreau was sent in 
1656, but was killed ere he left the St. Lawrence. He Gro- 
seilles and another Frenchman, more fortunate, wintered on 
the shores of the lake in 1658 ; they too visited the Sioux, and 
from the fugitive Hurons among them heard still clearer ti¬ 
dings of a great river on which they had struck, as, plunging 
through unknown wood and waste, over cliffs and mountains, 
they had sought to escape the destructive hand of the pur¬ 
suing Iroquois. u It was a beautiful river,” writes the an¬ 
nalist, “ large, broad, and deep, which would bear comparison, 
they say, with our St. Lawrence.” On its banks they found 
the AbimiSec, the Ilinois of later days. 

north of Lake Superior, unless it is meant for Lake Winnipeg, which, like 
Green bay, got its name from the Algonquin epithet for the Dacotahs, as com¬ 
ing from the Pacific. * Eel. 1642, p. 166. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


XXlll 

From other quarters, too, they began to hear of this great- 
river. The missionaries on the Saguenay heard of the Win- 
nipegonek, and their bay whence three seas could be reached, 
the north, the south, and the west.* The missionaries in 
New York saw Iroquois war-parties set out against the Ontoa- 
gannha whose towns “ lay on a beautiful river [Ohio], which 
leads to the great lake as they called the sea, where they 
traded with Europeans, who pray to God as we do, and have 
rosaries and bells to call men to prayers.” This sea the mis¬ 
sionaries judged must be the gulf of Mexico, or that of Cali- 
fornia.f 

Meanwhile Menard, an old Huron missionary, proceeded, 
in 1660, to Lake Superior, and founded an Ottawa mission 
on the southern shore. He, too, heard of the Mississippi, 
and had resolved to reach the nations on its banks, undeter¬ 
red by the difficulties of the way; but a work of charity 
called him to another quarter, and a death in the wilderness 
arrested his projects, before which one of half his years 
would have recoiled.{ 

His successor, Father Allouez, also heard of the great river, 
a which empties,” says he, “as far as I can conjecture, into 
the sea by Virginia.” He heard, too, of the Ilimouek, and 
the Nadouessiouek; and here, for the first time, we find the 

* Rel 1659-60, p. 61. f Rel 1661—*62, p. 9. 

\ See his letter in Rel. 1663-64, ch. i. Recent publications have put a Jesuit 
mission on the lake, and even on the Mississippi, as early as 1653; but the Rela¬ 
tions have not the slightest allusion to the fact, and speak of Menard as the first. 
The Jesuits named as being concerned, are not mentioned either in the journal 
of the superior of the mission, nor in any printed Relations, nor in Ducreux, nor 
in Le Clercq. The fact of a missionary at Tamaroa prior to Marquette’s voyage, 
is perfectly irreconcilable with the Relations, and if established, would destroy 
their authority. In this view, I will pay the most exorbitant price for any let¬ 
ter to or from F. Louis de Guerre, or Charles Drocoux, or any act of theirs at 
Tamaroa during .the period in question, or any manuscript of the 17th century 
showing their existence there. 


XXIV 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


river bear a name. “ They live,” says he, “ on the great 
river called Messipi.”* 

The western mission now received new accessions, and 
their hopes of entering the great river became more and more 
sanguine. The distinguished Father Dablon was sent out as 
superior of the Ottawa missions. A station among the Illinois 
was determined upon, Father Marquette named to begin it, 
and the study of the Illinois language actually begun by 
that missionary. From the accounts of a young man who 
was his master in that language, he formed new conjectures as 
to its mouth, and was apparently the first who heard of the 
Missouri. As to his intended voyage, he says, “ If the In¬ 
dians who promise to make me a canoe do not break their 
word, we shall go into this river as soon as we can with 
a Frenchman and this young man given me, who knows some 
of these languages, and has a readiness for learning others ; 
we shall visit the nations that inhabit them in order to open 
the passage to so many of our fathers, who have long awaited 
this happiness. This discovery will give us a complete 
knowledge of the southern or western sea.”f 

Meanwhile Allouez, on the 3d of November, 1669, left 
Sault St. Mary’s to visit Green bay; with great danger and 
hardship he reached it, and spent the winter preaching to the 
Pottawatomies, Menomonees, Sacs, Foxes, and Winnebagoes, 
whom he found mingled there. On the 16th of April, 1670, 
he began to ascend Fox river, and passing two rapids, 
reached Winnebago lake, and crossing it, came to a river 
“ from a wild-oat lake.” He was now, however, in search of 
the Outagamis, or Foxes, and turned up their river. He 
found them dejected by the loss of several families carried 
off by the Senecas on the banks of Lake Macliihiganing (our 


* Eel. 1666-67, p. 106. 


t fat 1669-70, p. 157. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


XXV 


Lake Michigan). After consoling them as he could, he ex¬ 
plained the object of his coming, and after given them his 
first general instruction in Christianity, sailed down their 
river again, and continued to the town of the Machkoutench, 
whom, says he, the Hurons call Assistaectaeronnous, or Fire 
nation. To reach them, he traversed the lake or marsh at the 
head of the Wisconsin, for they lay on that river. “ It was,” 
he says, “ a beautiful river running southwest without any 
rapid. It leads,” he says, further on, “to the great river 
named Messi-sipi, which is only six days’ sail from here.” 
Thus had Allouez at last reached the waters of the- Missis¬ 
sippi, as Nicolet had done thirty years before.* 

There was now no difficulty in reaching it; an easier -way 
lay open than that from Chagoimegon. Father Dablon 
wished himself to visit the spot, and in company with Al¬ 
louez, he returned to Green bay, and as early as September, 
in the same year, both were again at Maskoutens.f 

Father Dablon had meanwhile been named superior-gen¬ 
eral of the Canada missions, and seems to have taken the 
more interest in the exploring of the Mississippi by the Wis¬ 
consin, as the projected Illinois mission of Father Marquette 
was, for a time at least, defeated. The peace on which they 
relied was suddenly destroyed; the Sioux provoked by the 
rash insolence of the Hurons and Ottawas, declared war, and 

* Rel 1669-70, p. 92. 

\ Rel. 1670—*71, p. 169. At the time of drawing my notice on F. Allouez, p. 67 
post, I had some doubts as to these visits of Allouez and Dablon. The former, 
f/ Allouez, is the first missionary who reached the w r aters of the Mississippi; he 
twice ascended the Fox river in 1670, and twice overthrew the idol at Kaka- 
lin rapid. Fortunately Mr. Squier knows but little of the French missionaries 
at the north, or he would not have called the good fathers infamous for thus 
unseating the sacred object of the worship of the aborigines to substitute what 
with whimsical archaeology he calls th a fictions of their own religion. Allouez is 
the first to use a term at all like Michigan for the lake, and confirms my con¬ 
jecture of the i lentity of the Maskoutens and Assistagueronons. 


xxvi 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


sent back to the missionary the pictures which he had given 
them. Stratagem enabled them to neutralize the advantage 
which firearms gave their enemies; the Hurons and Ottawas 
were completely defeated, and fugitives already before the 
face of the Iroquois, they now fled again from a more terrible 
foe in the west. All hopes of his Illinois mission being thus 
dashed, the dejected Marquette followed his fugitive flocks, 
and as the Ottawas proceeded apart to Manitoulin, he ac¬ 
companied the Hurons to Mackinaw.* Here, doubtless, a 
hope of reaching the Mississippi by the Wisconsin, again 
roused him, as we soon find it the burthen of his thoughts. 

Father Dablon published the Relations of 1670-’71, and its 
map of Lake Superior. In his description of the map he at 
once alludes to the Mississippi. “To the south flows the 
great river, which they call the Missisipi, which can have 
its mouth only in the Florida sea, more than four hundred 
leagues from here.”f Further on he says, “ I deem it proper 
to set down here all we have learnt of it. It seems to en¬ 
circle all our lakes, rising in the north and running to the 
south, till it empties in a sea, which we take to be the Red 
sea (gulf of California), or that of Florida; as we have no 
knowledge of any great rivers in those parts which empty 
into those two seas.J Some Indians assure us that this river 
is so beautiful that more than three hundred leagues from its 
mouth, it is larger than that which flows by Quebec, as they 
make it more than a league wide. They say, moreover, that 
all this vast extent of country is nothing but prairies, without 
trees or woods, which obliges the inhabitants of those parts to 
use turf and sun-dried dung for fuel, till you come about 
twenty leagues from the sea. Here the forests begin to ap- 

* Rel 1670-71, p. 147. f Rel. 1670-’71, p. 89. 

\ There is probably a misprint here, and it should be, “we have some Knowl¬ 
edge” or else he held a theory that every sea must have its great river. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI KIVEK. XXvii 

pear again. Some warriors of this country (Maskoutens), who 
say that they have descended that far, assure us that they 
saw men like the French, who were splitting trees with long 
knives, some of whom had their house on the water, thus 
they explained their meaning, speaking of sawed planks and 
ships. They say besides, that all along this great river are 
various towns of different nations, languages, and customs, 
who all make war on each other; some are situated on the 
river side, but most of them inland, continuing thus up to the 
nation of the Nadouessi who are scattered over more than a 
hundred leagues of country.”* 

The course of the Mississippi, its great features, the nature 
of the country, were all known to the western missionaries and 
the traders, who alone with them carried on the discovery of 
the west. Among the latter was Jolliet, who in his rambles 
also penetrated near the Mississippi^ As the war seemed 
an obstacle to so hazardous an undertaking, the missionaries, 
it would appear, urged the French court to set on foot an ex¬ 
pedition. Marquette held himself in readiness to leave Mac¬ 
kinaw at the first sign of his superior’s will, and at last on the 
4th of June, 1672, the French minister wrote to Talon, then 
intendant of Canada : “ As after the increase of the colony ? 
there is nothing more important for the colony than the dis¬ 
covery of a passage to the south sea, his majesty wishes you 
to give it your attention.”:): Talon was then about to return 
to France, but recommended Jolliet to the new governor 
Frontenac, who had just arrived. The latter approved the 
choice, and Jolliet received his proper instructions from the 
new intendant. “The Chevalier de Grand Fontaine,” writes 
Frontenac, on the 2d of November, “ has deemed expedient 

* Eel. 1670-’71, p. 175. 

t Mem. of Frontenac , N. Y. Paris Doc., yol. i., p. 274. \ Ibid, vol. i., p. 267. 


XXV111 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


for the service to send the sieur Jolliet to discover the south 
sea by the Maskoutens country, and the great river Missis¬ 
sippi, which is believed to empty in the California sea. lie 
is a man of experience in this kind of discovery, and has al¬ 
ready been near the great river, of which he promises to see 
the mouth.”* 

Of the missionaries, two seemed entitled to the honor of 
exploring the great river, Allouez, the first to reach its waters, 
and Marquette named for some years missionary to the Il¬ 
linois. The latter was chosen, and since his departure from 
Chegoimegon, he had constantly offered up his devotions to 
the blessed Virgin Immaculate, to obtain the grace of reach¬ 
ing the Mississippi. What was his joy when on the very 
festival dearest to his heart, that of the Immaculate Concep¬ 
tion, Jolliet arrived bearing the letters of his superiors which 
bid him embark at last, in his company to carry out the de¬ 
sign so long, and so fondly projected. 

“The long-expected discovery of the Mississippi was now 
at hand, to be accomplished by Jolliet of Quebec, of whom 
there is scarce a record but this one excursion that gives him 
immortality and by Marquette, who, after years of pious assi¬ 
duity to the poor wrecks of Hurons, whom he planted near 
abundant fisheries, on the cold extremity of Michigan, en¬ 
tered, with equal humility, upon a career which exposed his 
life to perpetual danger, and by its results affected the des¬ 
tiny of nations.”f 

The winter was spent in preparation, in studying over all 
that had yet been learned of the great river, in gathering 
around them every Indian wanderer, and amid the tawny 
group drawing their first rude map of the Mississippi, and 
the water courses that led to it. And on this first map traced 

* Mem. of Frontcnac, N. Y. Paris Doc., vol. i., p. 274. 


f Bancroft. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


xxix 


doubtless kneeling on the ground they set down the names of 
each tribe they were to pass, each important point to be met. 
The discovery was dangerous, but it was not to be rash ; all 
was the result of calm, cool investigation, and never was 
chance less concerned than in the discovery of the Missis¬ 
sippi. 

In the spring they embarked at Mackinaw in two frail 
bark canoes, each with his paddle in hand, and full of hope, 
they soon plied them merrily over the crystal waters of the 
lake. All was new to Marquette, and he describes as he 
went along the Menomonies, Green bay, and Maskoutens, 
which he reached on the 7th of June, 1673. He had now 
attained the limit of former discoveries, the new world was 
before them; they looked back a last adieu to the waters, 
which great as the distance was, connected them with Que¬ 
bec and their countrymen ; they knelt on the shore to offer, 
by a new devotion, their lives, their honor, and their under¬ 
taking, to their beloved mother the Yirgin Mary Immaculate; 
then launching on the broad Wisconsin, sailed slowly down 
its current amid its vine-clad isles, and its countless sand-bars. 
Ho sound broke the stillness, no human form appeared, and 
at last, after sailing seven days, on the 17th of June, they 
happily glided into the great river. Joy that could find no 
utterance in words filled the grateful heart of Marquette. 
The broad river of the Conception, as he named it, now lay 
before them, stretching away hundreds of miles to an un¬ 
known sea. Soon all was new; mountain and forest had 
glided away; the islands, with their groves of cotton-wood, 
became more frequent, and moose and deer browzed on the 
plains; strange animals were seen traversing the river, and 
monstrous fish appeared in its waters. But they proceeded 
on their way amid this solitude, frightful by its utter absence 


XXX 


HISTORY OF TIIE DISCOVERY 


of man. Descending still further, they came to the land of 
the bison, or pisildon, which, with the turkey, became sole 
tenants of the wilderness; all other game had disappeared. 
At last, on the 25th of June, they descried foot-prints on the 
shore. They now took heart again, and Jolliet and the mis¬ 
sionary leaving their five men in the canoes, followed a little 
beaten path to discover who the tribe might be. They trav¬ 
elled on in silence almost to the cabin-doors, when they halted, 
and with a loud hallao proclaimed their coming. Three vil¬ 
lages lay before them; the first, roused by the cry, poured 
forth its motley group, which halted at the sight of the new¬ 
comers, and the well-known dress of the missionary. Old 
men came slowly on, step by measured step, bearing aloft 
the all-mysterious calumet. All was silence; they stood at 
last before the two Europeans, and Marquette asked, “Who 
are you?” “We are Illinois,” was the answer, which dis¬ 
pelled all anxiety from the explorers, and sent a thrill to the 
heart of Marquette; the Illinois missionary was at last amid 
the children of that tribe which he had so long, so tender¬ 
ly yearned to see. 

After friendly greetings at this town of Pewaria, and the 
neighboring one of Moing-wena, they returned to their canoes, 
escorted by the wondering tribe, who gave their hardy visi¬ 
tants a calumet, the safeguard of the West. With renewed 
courage and lighter hearts, they sailed on, and passing a high 
rock with strange and monstrous forms depicted on its rugged 
surface, heard in the distance the roaring as of a mighty cata¬ 
ract, and soon beheld Pekitanoui, or the muddy river, as the 
Algonquins call the Missouri, rushing like some untamed 
monster into the calm and clear Mississippi, and hurrying in 
with its muddy waters the trees which it had rooted up in its 
impetuous course. Already had the missionaries heard of 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


xxxi 


the river running to the western sea to be reached by the 
branches of the Mississippi, and Marquette, now better in¬ 
formed, fondly hoped to reach it one day by the Missouri. 
But now their course lay south, and passing a dangerous 
eddy, the demon of the western Indians, they marked the 
Waboukigou, or Ohio, the river of the Shawnees, and still 
holding on their way, came to the warm land of the cane, 
and the country which the musquitoes might call their own. 
While enveloped in their sails as a shelter from them, they 
came upon a tribe who invited them to the shore. They were 
wild wanderers, for they had guns bought of Catholic Euro¬ 
peans to the east. 

Thus far all had been friendly, and encouraged by this 
second meeting, they plied their oars anew, and amid groves 
of cotton-wood on either side, descended to the 33d degree, 
where, for the first time, a hostile reception seemed promised 
by the excited Metchigameas. Too few to resist, their only 
hope on earth was the mysterious calumet, and in heaven the 
protection of Mary, to whom they sent up those fervent 
prayers, which none but one who has called on her in the 
hour of need can realize. At last the storm subsided, and 
they were received in peace; their language formed an ob¬ 
stacle, but an interpreter was found, and after explaining the 
object of their coming, and announcing the great truths of 
Christianity, they embarked for Akamsea, a village thirty 
miles below on the eastern shore. 

Here they were well received, and learned that the mouth 
of the river was but ten days sail from this village; but they 
heard, too, of nations there trading with Europeans, and of 
wars between the tribes, and the two explorers spent a night 
in consultation. The Mississippi, they now saw, emptied into 
the gulf of Mexico, between Florida and Tampico, two Span- 


XXX11 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


ish points; they might by proceeding fall into their hands. 
They resolved to return. Thus far only Marquette traced the 
map, and he put down the names of other tribes of which 
they heard. Of these in the Atotchasi, Matora, and Papi- 
haka, we recognise Arkansas tribes; and the Akoroas and 
Tanikwas, Pawnees and Omahas, Kansas and Apiches, are 
well known in after da} T s. 

They accordingly set out from Akensea on the 17th of July 
to return. Passing the Missouri again, they entered the Il¬ 
linois, and meeting the friendly Kaskaskias at its upper 
portage, were led by them in a kind of triumph to Lake Mich¬ 
igan, for Marquette had promised to return and instruct them 
in the faith. Sailing along the lake, they crossed the outer 
peninsula of Green bay, and reached the mission of St. Francis 
Xavier, just four months after their departure from it. 

Thus had the missionaries achieved their long-projected 
work. The triumph of the age was thus completed in the 
discovery and exploration of the Mississippi, which threw 
open to France, the richest, most fertile, and accessible terri¬ 
tory in the new world. Marquette, whose health had been 
severely tried in this voyage, remained at St. Francis to re¬ 
cruit his strength before resuming his wonted missionary 
labors, for he sought no laurels, he aspired to no tinsel praise. 

Jolliet, who had, like Marquette, drawn up a journal and 
map of his voyage, set out (probably in the spring) for Que¬ 
bec, to report to the governor of Canada the result of his ex¬ 
pedition, and took with him an Indian boy, doubtless the 
young slave given them by the great chief of the Illinois. 
Unfortunately, while shooting the rapids above Montreal, his 
canoe turned, and he barely escaped with his life, losing all 
his papers and his Indian companion. What route he had 
followed from Mackinaw, we do not know; but he seems to 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. XXxiii 

liave descended by Detroit river, Lake Erie, and Niagara, as 
Frontenac announcing his return to the government in 
France, says, “ he has found admirable countries, and so 
easy a navigation by the beautiful river which he found, that 
from Lake Ontario and Fort Frontenac, you can go in barks 
to the gulf of Mexico, there being but one discharge to be 
made at the place where Lake Erie falls into Lake Ontario.” 

Separated as he was from Marquette, and deprived of his 
papers by the accident, Jolliet drew up a narrative of his 
voyage from recollection, and also sketched a map which 
Frontenac transmitted to France in November, 1674, three 
months after Jolliet’s arrival at Quebec.* The loss of Jolliet’s 
narrative and map now gave the highest importance to those 

* As Frontenac’s memoir completely refutes the assertion of Hennepin, that 
Jolliet made no report to the government, and is a monument of no little im¬ 
portance, as substantiating the voyage of Marquette and Jolliet we insert it in 
the original, from vol. i., p. 258, of the Paris Documents at Albany. 

“ Quebec le 14 Novemb., 1674. 

“ § VI. Retour du Sr. Joliet de son voyage a la decouverte de la mer du sud. 

“Le Sr. Joliet que M. Talon m’a conseille d’envoyer a la decouverte de la mer 
du sud, lorsque j’arrivai de France, en est de retour depuis trois mois et a d£- 
couvert des pays admirables et une navigation si aisie par les belles rivieres qu’il 
a trouv^es que du lac Ontario et du fort Frontenac on pourrait aller en barque 
jusque dans le golfe du Mexique, n’y ayant qu’une seule d£charge a faire dans 
l’endroit ou le Lac Erie tombe dans le Lac Ontario. 

“ Ce sont des projets a quoi l’on pourra travailler lorsque la paix sera bien 
£tablie et quand il plaira au roi de pousser ces decouvertes. 

“II a ete jusqu’adix journees du golfe du Mexique et croit que les rivieres que 
du cote de l’ouest tombent dans la grande riviere qu’il a trouvce, qui va du nau 
S. . . et qu’on trouveroit des communications d’eaux qui meneroient 4 la mer 
Vermeille et de la Californie. 

“ le vous envoie par mon secretaire la carte qu’il en a faite et les r^marques 
dont il s’est pu souvenir, ayant perdu tous ses memoires et ses journaux dans la 
naufrage qu’il fit a la vue de Montreal, ou il pensa se noyer, apres avoir fait un 
voyage de douze cents lieues et perdit tous ses papiers et un petit sauvage qu’il 
ramenoit de ces pays la. 

“Il avoit laisseS dans le Lac Superieur au Sault Ste. Marie chez les Peres des 
copies de ses journaux, que nous ne saurions avoir que l’ann£e prochaine, par ou 
vous apprendrez plus de particularity de cette decouverte, dont il s’est tres bien 
acquitte. ‘ Frontenac.” 


C 


xxxiv 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


in the hands of the missionaries; these Frontenac promised 
to send, and Father Marquette, as we find by his autograph 
letter, transmitted copies to his superior at his request, prior 
to October; and the French government was, undoubtedly, 
possessed, in 1675, of Marquette’s journal and map, and fully 
aware of the great advantage to be derived from the dis¬ 
coveries made, either for communicating direct with France 
from Illinois, or of seeking the nearest road to the gulf of Cal¬ 
ifornia and the Pacific, by the western tributaries of the Mis¬ 
sissippi. “ These,” says Frontenac, “ are projects we can 
take in hand when peace is well established, and it shall 
please his majesty to carry out the exploration.” 

The court allowed the whole affair to pass unnoticed. Mar¬ 
quette’s narrative was not published, and the Jesuit Relations 
apparently prohibited ; so that it would not, perhaps, have 
seen the light to our days, had not Thevenot obtained a copy 
of the narrative and a map which he published in 1681.* 
France would have derived no benefit from this discovery, 
but for the enterprise and persevering courage of Robert 
Cavalier de la Salle. When Jolliet passed down Lake On¬ 
tario, in 1674, he stopped at Fort Frontenac where La Salle 
was then commander under Frontenac. He was thus one of 
the first to know the result of Jolliet’s voyage, and, perhaps, 
was one of the few that saw his maps and journal which 

were lost before he reached the next French post. At the 

% 

time it does not seem to have made much impression on La 
Salle; his great object then was to build up a fortune, and 
the next year he obtained a grant of Fort Frontenac and the 
monopoly of the lake trade and a patent of nobility. His 
plans failed, and instead of acquiring wealth, he found him¬ 
self embarrassed by immense debts. He now looked for 

* Tliere is a copy of this original edition in the library of Harvard College. 
An exact copy was printed by Mr. Rich, a few years ago. 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 


XXXV 


some new field, and by reading the accounts of tlic Spanish 
adventurers, seems to have been the first to identify the great 
river of Marquette, and Jolliet with the great river of De 
Soto. The vast herds of bison seemed to him to afford an 
easy means of realizing all that he could hope, by enabling 
him to ship from the banks of the Missouri and Illinois direct 
to France by the gulf of Mexico, cargoes of buffalo-skins and 
wool. In 1677, he repaired again to France, and by the help 
of Frontenac’s recommendation, obtained a patent for his dis¬ 
covery, and a new monopoly in the following May, and by 
September was in Canada with Tonty and a body of me¬ 
chanics and mariners, with all things necessary for his expe¬ 
dition. The plan traced by Jolliet in Frontenac’s despatch 
of 1674, seems to have been followed by him without further 
investigation. As it would be necessary to unload at the 
falls of Niagara, the Onghiara, of the old missionaries, he re¬ 
solved to build a new fort there, and construct vessels above 
the cataract to ply on the upper lakes, and thus connect his 
trading-houses on the Mississippi with Fort Frontenac, his 
chief and most expensive establishment. Such was his celer¬ 
ity that, by the 5th of December, the first detachment of his 
party entered the Niagara river, and a site was soon selected 
for a fort, and for the construction of a vessel above the falls. 
Difficulties with the Senecas finally compelled him to relin¬ 
quish the fort, and a mere shed or storehouse was raised. 
The vessel, however, went on, and he at last saw it glide 
down into the rapid current of Niagara in August, 1679, amid 
the admiring crowd of Indians who had gathered around the 
French. 

There was now no obstacle to his further progress, but we 
must here regret that he had not studied former discoveries 

c? 

more narrowly. One of his clear and comprehensive mind 


xxxvi 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


would have seized at once the great western branch of the 
Mississippi, already known to the missionaries and the Iro¬ 
quois. By his present plans he had to build one vessel above 
the falls of Niagara, and a second on the Illinois river; one 
on the Ohio, so easily reached by the Alleghany would have 
carried him to the gulf, and lie would thus have avoided the 
various troubles which so long retarded his reaching the 
mouth of the Mississippi. He sailed to Green bay, but found 
that he had arrayed against him all the private traders of 
the west, by sending men to trade, contrary to his patent, 
which expressly excepted the Ottawa country. Of this he 
soon felt the effects, his men began to desert, and to crown 
all his misfortunes, his new vessel, the Griffin, was lost on her 
way back to Niagara. Before this catastrophe he had set out 
to descend Lake Michigan. He built a kind of fort at the 
mouth of the St. Joseph’s and sounded its channel, and, at 
last, in December, proceed to enter the Kankakee, a branch 
of the Illinois, by a portage from the St. Joseph’s. Disheart¬ 
ened by the desertion and disaffection of his men, and by the 
want of all tidings of his vessel, he began the erection of 
Fort Crevecoeur, and of a vessel near the Illinois camp below 
Lake Peoria. The vessel he had finally to abandon for want 
of proper materials to complete it, and he set out almost 
alone for Fort Frontenac by land, after sending Father Hen¬ 
nepin to explore the Illinois to its mouth. That missionary 
went further; voluntarily or as a prisoner of the Sioux, he 
seems to have ascended as far as St. Anthony’s falls, which 
owe their name to him. His exploration of the Mississippi 
between the Illinois river and St. Anthony’s falls, took place 
in 1680, between the months of March and September, when, 
delivered by De Luth, lie returned to Mackinaw, and thence 
in the spring almost direct to Quebec and Europe. By 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. XXXvii 

1683, he published, at Paris, an account of his voyage 
under the title of Description de la Louisiane, which after 
the Relations, and Marquette’s narrative, is the next work 
relative to the Mississippi, and contains the first printed de¬ 
scription of that river above the mouth of the Wisconsin, 
from actual observation. 

La Salle returned to Illinois in 1681, and, to his surprise, 
found his fort deserted. He soon after met the survivors of 
his first expedition at Mackinaw, and set about new prepara¬ 
tions for his great work. In January, 1682, he was again 
with his party at the extremity of Lake Michigan, and enter¬ 
ing the Chicago river, followed the old line of Father Mar¬ 
quette, reached Fort Crevecoeur once more, and at last began 
in earnest his voyage down the Mississippi. He had aban¬ 
doned the idea of sailing down in a ship, and resolved to go 
in boats, ascertain accurately the position of its mouth, and 
then return to France and sail direct with a colony for the 
mouth, and ascend to some convenient place. On the 6th of 
February, the little expedition, apparently in three large 
boats or canoes, conducted by La Salle and his lieutenants, 
Tonty and Dautray, with Father Zenobius Membre, as their 
chaplain, and Indians as hunters and guides, entered the 
wide waters of the Mississippi, which henceforward, in the 
narratives of La Salle’s companions assumes the name of 
Colbert. They passed the mouth of the muddy Missouri, 
and further on, the deserted village of the Tamaroas, and 
next the Ohio, where the marshy land began that prevented 
their landing. Detained soon after by the loss of one of his 
men, La Salle encamped on the bluff, and fell in with some 
Chickasaws, then proceeding on, at last, on the 3d of March, 
was roused by the war-cries, and the rattling drums of an 
Arkansas village. He had reached the limit of Jolliet’s 


XXXV111 


HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY 


voyage; henceforward, he was to be the first French ex¬ 
plorer. Warlike as the greeting was, La Salle soon entered 
into friendly relations with them, and several days were 
spent in their village. Here a cross was planted with the 
arms of the French king, and the missionary endeavored, by 
interpreters and signs to give some idea of Christianity. 

On the 17th, La Salle embarked again, and passing two 
more Arkansas towns, reached the populous tribe of the Ta- 
ensas, in their houses of clay and straw, with roofs of cane, 
themselves attired in mantles, woven of white pliant bark, 
and showing Eastern reverence for their monarch, who in 
great ceremony visited the envoys of the French. 

Pursuing his course, the party next came to the Hatchez, 
where another cross w r as planted, and visiting the Koroas 
proceeded on till the river divided into tw T o branches. Fol¬ 
lowing the westerly one, they sailed past the Quinipissas, 
and the pillaged town of another tribe, till they reached 
the delta, on the 6th of April. La Salle and his two lieuten¬ 
ants, each taking a separate channel, advanced, full of hope; 
the brackish water, growing salter as they proceeded, being 
a sure index of the sea, which they reached at last on the 9th 
of April, 1682, sixty-two days after their entering the Missis- 
sippi. 

The French had thus, at last, in the two expeditions of 
Jolliet and La Salle, completely explored the river from the 
falls of St. Anthony to the gulf of Mexico. La Salle now 
planted a cross with the arms of France amid the solemn 
chant of hymns of thanksgiving, and in the name of the 
French king took possession of the river, of all its branches, 
and the territory watered by them; and the notary drew up 
an authentic act, which all signed with beating hearts, and 
a leaden plate with the arms of France, and the names of 


OF THE MISSISSIPPI EIYER. XXXIX 

the discoverers was amid the rattle of musketry deposited in 
the earth. 

La Salle now ascended again to Illinois, and despatched 
Father Zenobius Membre to France to lay an account of his 
voyage before the government. He sailed from Quebec on 
the 15th of November with Frontenac, and the course of the 
Mississippi was known in France before the close of 1682.* 

The next year La Salle himself reached France, and set 
out by sea to reach the mouth of the Mississippi; he never 
again beheld it; but Tonty seeking him, had again descended 
to the mouth, and it was soon constantly travelled by the ad¬ 
venturous trader, and still more adventurous missionary. A 
Spanish vessel under Andrew de Pcs, entered the mouth soon 
after; but, on the 2d of March, 1699, the Canadian Iberville, 
more fortunate than La Salle, entered it with Father Anasta- 
sius Douay, who had accompanied that unfortunate adven¬ 
turer on his last voyage.f Missionaries from Canada soon 
came to greet him, and La Sueur ascended the Mississippi to 
St. Peter’s river, and built a log fort on its blue-earth tributary. 

Henceforward all was progress; we might now trace the 
labors of those who explored each mighty tributary, and watch 
the progress of each rising town ; we might follow down the 
first cargo of wheat, or look with the anxiety of the day at 
the first crop of sugar and of cotton; but this were to write 
the history of the Mississippi valley, and we undertook only 
that of its discovery. Our work is done. We turn now to 
trace the life of its first French explorers. 

* The works on La Salle’s voyages, besides Hennepin already noticed, are, 
1. Ftablisscment de la Foi , Ac., par le P. Chretien Le Clercq, Paris, 1691. 2. Der 

nieres decouvertes, Ac., parle Chev. de Tonty, Paris, 1697. 3. Journal Ilistorique, 
Ac., par M. Joutel, Paris, 1713. 

f Hutorical Collections of Louisiana, vol. iii., p. 14. 
























7 
























































































* 





































LIFE 


OF 

FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE, 


OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, 

FIRST EXPLORER OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

N EAR a little branch of the river Oise, in the department 
of Aisne, the traveller finds perched on the mountain¬ 
side the small but stately city of Laon. Strong fortifications 
without, and a vast cathedral within, show that in former 
days it was one of those cities which were constantly replete 
with life and movement in the endless contests between noble 
and noble, and not unfrequently between the suzerain himself 
and his more powerful vassal. 

The most ancient family in this renowned city, is that of 
Marquette, and in its long annals we find the highest civic 
honors borne almost constantly by members of that illustrious 
race. It already held an important place in the reign of Louis 
the young, and its armorial bearings still commemorate the 
devotedness of the sieur James Marquette, sheriff of Laon, to 
the cause of his royal master, the unfortunate John of France, 
in 1360. 

A martial spirit has always characterized this citizen 
family, and its members have constantly figured in the daz- 


xlii LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

zling wars of France. Oar own republic is not without its 
obligations to the valor of the Marquettes, three of whom died 
here in the French army during the Revolutionary war. 

Yet not their high antiquity nor their reckless valor would 
ever have given the name of Marquette to fame; the un¬ 
sought tribute which it has acquired among us, is due to the 
labors of one who renounced the enjoyments of country and 
home to devote his days to the civilization and conversion of 
our Indian tribes; who died in the bloom of youth, worn 
down by toil, in a lonely, neglected spot, whose name every 
effort was made to enshrine in oblivion, but who has been at 
last, by the hand of strangers, raised on a lofty pedestal 
among the great, the good, and the holy, who have honored 
our land ; the family is known to us only as connected with 
Father James Marquette of the Society of Jesus, the first ex¬ 
plorer of the Mississippi. 

Born at the ancient seat of his family, in the year 1637, he 
was, through his pious mother Rose de la Salle, allied to the 
venerable John Baptist de la Salle, the founder of the insti¬ 
tute known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools, whose 
services in the cause of gratuitous education of the poor had 
instructed thousands before any of the modern systems of 
public schools had been even conceived.* From his pious 
mother the youthful Marquette imbibed that warm, generous, 
and unwavering devotion to the mother of God, which makes 
him so conspicuous among her servants. None but a mother 
could have infused such a filial affection for Mary. 

At the age of seventeen his heart, detached from this world 
and all its bright allurements, impelled him to enter the So¬ 
ciety of Jesus, as he did in the year 1654. When the two 

* Devisme Histoire de la Ville de Laon. A member of his family, Francis 
Marquette, founded similar schools for girls, in 1685, and the religious were com¬ 
monly called Sceurs Marquette. 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. xlili 

years of self study and examination Lad passed away, lie was 
as is usual with the young Jesuits, employed in teaching or 
study, and twelve years glided away in the faithful per¬ 
formance of the unostentatious duties assigned him. No 
sooner, however, was he invested with the sacred character 
of the priesthood, than his ardent desire to become in all 
things an imitator of his chosen patron, St. Francis Xavier, 
induced him to seek a mission in some land that knew not 
God, that he might labor there to his latest breath, and die 
unaided and alone. 

The province of Champagne in which he was enrolled con¬ 
tained no foreign mission: he was transferred to that of 
France, and, in 1666, sailed for Canada. On the 20tli of 
September he landed, buoyant with life and health, at Que¬ 
bec, and amid his brethren awaited the new destination on 
which his superiors should decide.* 

The moment of his arrival was one of deep interest in the 
religious history of a colony, which had in its early settlement 
so nobly represented the purest Catholicity, neither hampered 
by civil jealousy, nor unhearted by the cold and selfish policy 
of a pagan age. The halcyon days of the Canadian church 
were passing away, but God had raised up one to guide and 
guard his church, that is, in fact, his poor and little ones, in 
the coming struggle with worldliness and policy. This was 
Francis de Laval, who landed at Quebec in 1659, with the 
title of bishop of Petrea, and vicar apostolic of New France. 
Gradually he gathered around him a few secular priests and 
began to settle the ecclesiastical affairs of the French posts, 
till then mere missions in the hands of the Jesuits. At the 
period of Marquette’s arrival, he had already begun to see his 
diocese assume a regular shape, his clergy had increased, his 

* Jour. Sup. Jes. 


Xliv LIFE OF FATIIER MARQUETTE. 

cathedral and seminary were rapidly rising. The war with 
the Iroquois which had so long checked the prosperity of the 
colony, and the hopes of the missionaries, was at last brought 
to a successful issue by the efforts of the viceroy de Tracy, 
and a new field was opened for the missions. 

These had always been an object of his deep solicitude; 
the wide west especially was a field which he sighed to pen¬ 
etrate himself, cross in hand, but this could not be. As 
early as 1660, from the new impulse thus given, an Ottawa 
mission was resolved upon, and the veteran Menard, one of 
the last survivors of the old Huron mission, cheered by the 
parting words of his holy bishop, embarked to raise the cross 
of Sault St. Mary’s, which his companions Jogues and Raym- 
baut had planted twenty years before. He bore it on to 
Keweena bay in Lake Superior, and while full of projects for 
reaching the Sioux on the upper Mississippi, died in the 
woods, a victim to famine or the hatchet of the roving Indian. 
At the time of Marquette’s arrival, Father Allouez was there 
exploring parts which no white man had yet visited, and as 
he saw a wide field opening before his view, earnestly im¬ 
ploring a new missionary reinforcement. 

Such was the Ottawa mission; but there were others also. 
Father Jogues thus associated with the earliest western dis¬ 
coveries, had penetrated into Hew York, and reddening the 
Mohawk with his life’s blood, brought it within the bounds 
of catholicity. From this moment Hew York was a land 
which each missionary ambitioned; visited successively by 
two more as prisoners, their sufferings and blood confirmed 
the title of the missionaries, and, in 1654, Father Simon le 
Moyne visited Onondaga, and gave the first account of west¬ 
ern Hew York. A mission was established the next year, 
and the missionaries explored the whole state from the Hud- 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. xlv 

son to the Niagara; but a sudden change took place — a plot 
was formed against the French colony at Onondaga, and this 
first mission was crushed in its infancy, after a brief existence 
of three years. The war which ensued made Canada itself 
tremble, and a new mission in New York was not even 
thought of; the attempt to renew that in Michigan is, indeed, 
one of the hardiest undertakings in the annals of the Jesuit 
missions, and a noble monument of their fearless zeal. But 
now the tree of peace was planted, the war-parties had 
ceased, and missionaries hastened to the Iroquois cantons, 
which, for nearly twenty years, were to be so well instructed 
in the truths of Christianity, that even now the catholic Iro¬ 
quois almost outnumber the rest of their countrymen. 

Another great mission of the time was that of the Abnakis, 
in Maine, founded by Druillettes in 1647, and continued by 
him at intervals until it became at last the permanent resi¬ 
dence of several zealous men. 

Besides these were the missions of the wandering Algon- 
quins of the river, which centred at Sillery and Three Bivers, 
but had been almost entirely destroyed by the Iroquois after 
the destruction of the Huron missions and depopulation of 
Upper Canada. These expiring missions the Jesuits still 
maintained ; but another and a harder field was that of the 
Montagnais, of which Tadoussac was the centre. Here at the 
mouth of that strange river, the Saguenay, which pours its 
almost fathomless tide into the shallower St. Lawrence, is the 
oft-mentioned post of Tadoussac. For a few weeks each year, 
it was a scene of busy, stirring life; Indians of every petty 
tribe from the Esquimaux of Labrador, to the Miernac of 
Nova Scotia, came to trade with the French. Here, then, a 
missionary was always found to instruct them as much as time 
permitted, and when found sufficiently acquainted with the 


Xlvi LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

mysteries of our faith, to baptize them. The Christian Indian 
always repaired to this post to fulfil the obligations of the 
church, to lay down the burthen of sin, to receive the bread 
of life, and then depart for the wilderness with his calendar 
and pin to be able to distinguish the Sundays and holydays; 
and thus amid the snows and crags join in the prayers and 
devotions of the universal church. When the trade was over, 
a new field lay before the missionary; the countiy was to be 
traversed in every direction to carry the light of faith from 
cabin to cabin, to exhort, instruct, confirm. These adventur¬ 
ous expeditions through parts still a wilderness, are full of in¬ 
terest, and, strange as it may seem, are rife with early notices 
of our western country ; they reached from the Saguenay to 
Hudson’s bay, and stretching westward, almost reached Lake 
Superior. 

This mission required one full of life, zeal, and courage, 
and to it Father Marquette was in the first instance destined. 
The Montagnais was the key language to the various tribes, 
and as early as the tenth of October,* we find him starting 
for Three Kivers to begin the study of that language under 
Father Gabriel Druilletes. While thus engaged, his leisure 
hours were of course devoted to the exercise of his ministry, 
and here he remained until April, 1668, when the first proj¬ 
ect was abandoned, and he was ordered to prepare for the 
Ottawa mission, as that of Lake Superior was then called. 
He had by this time acquired also a knowledge of the Al¬ 
gonquin, and thus fitted for his new mission, he left Quebec on 
the 21st of April with three companions for Montreal, where 
he was to await the Ottawa flotilla, which was to bear him 
westward. A party of Nezperces came at last, bearing 
Father Nicholas Louis, the companion of Allouez, and with 


* Jour. Sup. Jes. 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. xlvil 

them Father Marquette embarked. The journey up the Ot¬ 
tawa river, and through French river to Lake Huron, and 
then across that inland sea to Sault St. Mary’s, has been too 
often and too vividly described to need repetition here. Its 
toil and danger are associated with the accounts of all the 
earlv Huron missionaries. 

When he reached Lake Superior, Marquette found that the 
tribes whom fear of the Iroquois had driven to the extremity 
of the lake, were now returning to their former abodes. Hew 
missions were thus required, and it was resolved to erect two, 
one at Sault St. Mary’s, the other in Green Bay. The former 
was assigned to Father Marquette, and planting his cabin at 
the foot of the rapid on the American side, he began his mis¬ 
sionary career. Here, in the following year, he was joined 
by Father Dablon, as superior of the Ottawa missions, and 
by their united exertion, a church was soon built; and thus, 
at last, a sanctuary worthy of the faith raised at that cradle 
of Christianity in the west. 

The tribes to which he ministered directly here were all 
Algonquin, and numbered about two thousand souls. They 
showed the greatest docility to his teaching, and would all 
gladly have received baptism, but caution was needed, and 
the prudent missionary contented himself for a time with 
giving them clear, distinct instructions, and with efforts to root 
out all lurking superstitions, conferring the sacrament only on 
the dying. The missionary’s first lesson was, “ to learn to la¬ 
bor and to wait.”* 

His stay at the Sault among the Pahwitting-dach-irini, 
Outchibous, Maramegs, &c., was not, however, to be of long 
duration. Father Allouez departed for Green Bay, and a 
missionary was to be sent to Lapointe to continue the dis- 


* Bel. 1668-69, p. 102. 


xlviii LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

heartening labors of that ungrateful field. Marquette was 
chosen. Without repugnance lie set out for his new station 
in the autumn of 1669. We can not better depict his labors 
than by inserting at length the letter descriptive of his mis¬ 
sion, which he addressed to Father Francis Le Mercier, the 
superior of the missions in the following year. 

“Reverend Father, 

“ The Peace of Christ.! 

“I am obliged to render you an account of the mission of 
the Holy Ghost among the Ottawas, according to the orders I 
received from you and again from Father Dablon on my arri¬ 
val here, after a month’s navigation on snow and through ice 
which closed my way, and kept me in constant peril of life. 

“ Divine Providence having destined me to continue the 
mission of the Holy Ghost begun by Father Allouez, who had 
baptized the chiefs of the Kiskakonk, I arrived there on the 
thirteenth of September, and went to visit the Indians who 
were in the clearings which are divided into five towns. The 
Hurons to the number of about four or five hundred, almost 
all baptized, still preserve some little Christianity. A num¬ 
ber of the chiefs assembled in council, were at first well 
pleased to see me; but I explained that I did not yet know 
their language perfectly, and that no other missionary was 
coming, both because all had gone to the Iroquois, and be¬ 
cause Father Allouez, who understood them perfectly, did 
not wish to return that winter, as they did not love the prayer 
enough. They acknowledged that it was a just punishment, 
and during the winter held talks about it, and resolved to 
amend, as they tell me. 

f For the benefit of investigators of manuscripts I would remark that these 
words, or the letters P. C. and a cross at, the top of the page, are alone almost 
sufficient to show a paper to be written by one of the Jesuit missionaries. 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


xlix 


“The nation of the Outaouaks Sinagaux is far from the 
kingdom of God, being above all other nations addicted to 
lewdness, sacrifices, and juggleries. They ridicule the 
prayer, and will scarcely hear us speak of Christianity. 
They are proud and undeveloped, and I think that so little 
can be done with this tribe, that I have not baptized healthy 
infants who seem likely to live, watching only for such as are 
sick. The Indians of the Kinouche tribe declare openly that 
it is not yet time. There are, however, two men among them 
formerly baptized. One now rather old, is looked upon as a 
kind of miracle among the Indians, having always refused to 
marry, persisting in this resolution in spite of all that had 
been said. lie has suffered much even from his relatives, 
but he is as little affected by this as by the loss of all the 
goods which he brought last year from the settlement, not 
having even enough left to cover him. These are hard trials 
for Indians, who generally seek only to possess much in this 
world. The other, a new-married young man, seems of an¬ 
other nature than the rest. The Indians extremely attached 
to their reveries had resolved that a certain number of young 
women should prostitute themselves, each to choose such 
partner as she lilted. No one in these cases ever refuses, as 
the lives of men are supposed to depend on it. This young 
Christian was called ; on entering the cabin he saw the orgies 
which were about to begin, and feigning illness immediately 
left and though they came to call him back, he refused to 
go. His confession was as prudent as it could be, and I won¬ 
dered that an Indian could live so innocently, and so nobly 
profess himself a Christian. His mother and some of his 
sisters are also good Christians. The Ottawas, extremely su¬ 
perstitious in their feasts and juggleries, seem hardened to the 
instructions given them, yet they like to have their children 

D 


1 


LIFE OF FATIIER MARQUETTE. 


"baptized. God permitted a woman to die this winter in her 
sin; her illness had been concealed from me, and I heard it 
only by the report that she had asked a very improper dance 
for her cure. I immediately went to a cabin where all the 
chiefs were at a feast, and sqme Kiskakonk Christians among 
them. To these I exposed the impiety of the woman and her 
medicine-men, and gave them proper instructions. I then 
spoke to all present, and God permitted that an old Ottawa 
rose to advise, granting what I asked, as it made no matter, 
he said, if the woman did die. An old Christian then rose 
and told the nation that they must stop the licentiousness of 
their youth, and not permit Christian girls to take part in such 
dances. To satisfy the woman, some child’s play was substitu¬ 
ted for the dance; but this did not prevent her dying before 
morning. The dangerous state of a sick young man caused 
the medicine-men to proclaim that the devil must be invoked 
by extraordinary superstitions. The Christians took no part. 
The actors were these jugglers and the sick man, who was 
passed over great fires lighted in every cabin. It was said 
that he did not feel the heat, although his body had been 
greased with oil for five or six days. Men, women, and chil¬ 
dren, ran through the cabins asking as a riddle to divine 
their thoughts, and the successful guesser was glad to give 
the object named. I prevented the abominable lewdness so 
common at the end of these diabolical rites. I do not think 
they will recur, as the sick man died soon after. 

“The nation of Kiskakons,* which for three years refused 
to receive the gospel preached them by Father Allouez, re- 

* Father Allouez, in the Relation of 1668-69, does not use the term Kisknkon 
He calls them Queues coupes, and states that they had formerly lived on Lake 
Huron, where they had been visited by the old Huron missionaries, and had been 
first visited by Menard on Lake Superior. I add this to my subsequent note on 
them, as it may throw some new light on their original position. 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


li 


solved, in the fall of 1668, to obey God. This resolution was 
adopted in full council, and announced to that father who 
spent four winter months instructing them. The chiefs of the 
nation became Christians, and as Father Allouez was called 
to another mission, he gave it to my charge to cultivate, and 
I entered on it in September, 1669. 

“ All the Christians were then in the fields harvesting their 
Indian corn; they listened with pleasure when I told them 
that I came to Lapointe for their sake and that of the Hu¬ 
ron s; that they never should be abandoned, but be beloved 
above all other nations, and that they and the French were 
one. I had the consolation of seeing their love for the prayer 
and their pride in being Christians. I baptized the new-born 
infants, and instructed the chiefs whom I found well-dis¬ 
posed. The head-chief having allowed a dog to be hung on 
a pole near his cabin, which is a kind of sacrifice the Indians 
make to the sun, I told him that this was wrong, and he 
went and threw it down. 

“ A sick man instructed, but not baptized, begged me to 
grant him that favor, or to live near him, as he did not wish 
medicine-men to cure him, and that he feared the fires of 
hell. I prepared him for baptism, and frequently visited his 
cabin. Ilis joy at this partly restored his health ; he thanked 
me for my care, and soon after saying that I had recalled 
him to life, gave me a little slave lie had brought from the 
Ilinois two or three months before. 

“ One evening, while in the cabin of the Christian where I 
sleep, I taught him to pray to his guardian-angel, and told 
him some stories to show him the assistance they give us, es¬ 
pecially when in danger of offending God. ‘How,’ said he, 
‘I know the invisible hand that struck me when, since my 
baptism, I was going to commit a sin, and the voice that bid 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


lii 

me remember that I was a Christian ; fori left the companion 
of my guilt without committing the sin.’ He now often 
speaks of devotion to the angels, and explains it to the other 
Indians. 

“Some young Christian women are examples to the tribe, 
and are not ashamed to profess Christianity. Marriages 
among the Indians are dissolved almost as easily as they are 
made, and then it is no dishonor to marry again. Hearing 
that a young Christian woman abandoned by her husband 
was in danger of being forced to marry by her family, I en¬ 
couraged her to act as a Christian ; she has kept her word. 
Hot a breath has been uttered against her. This conduct, 
with my remonstrances, induced the husband to take her 
back again at the close of winter, since which time she has 
come regularly to the chapel, for she was too far off before. 
She has unbosomed her conscience to me, and I admired 
such a life in a young woman. 

“The pagans make no feast without sacrifices, and we have 
great trouble to prevent them. The Christians have now 
changed these customs, and to effect it more easily, I have 
retained some, suppressing only what is really bad. The 
feast must open with a speech; they then address God, ask¬ 
ing him for health and all they need, as they now give food 
to men. It has pleased God to preserve all our Christians in 
health except two children whom they tried to hide, and for 
whom a medicine-man performed his diabolic rites, but they 
died soon after my baptizing them. 

Having invited the Kiskakons to come and winter near the 
chapel, they left all the other tribes to gather around us so as 
to be able to pray to God, be instructed, and have their 
children baptized. They call themselves Christians; hence, 
in all councils and important affairs, I address them, and 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


liii 


when I wish to show them that I really wish what I ask, I 
need only address them as Christians; they told me even 
that they obeyed me for that reason. They have taken the 
upper hand, and control the three other tribes. It is a great 
consolation to a missionary to see such pliancy in savages, 
and thus live in such peace with his Indians, spending the 
whole day in instructing them in our mysteries, and teaching 
them the prayers. Neither the rigor of the winter, nor the 
state of the weather, prevents their coming to the chapel; 
many never let a day pass, and I was thus busily employed 
from morning till night, preparing some for baptism, some for 
confession, disabusing others of their reveries. The old men 
told me that the young men had lost their senses, and that I 
must stop their excesses. I often spoke to them of their 
daughters, urging them to prevent their being visited at 
night. I knew almost all that passed in two tribes near us, 
but though others were spoken of, I never heard anything 
against the Christian women, and when I spoke to the old 
men about their daughters, they told me that they prayed to 
God. I often inculcated this, knowing the importunities 
to which they are constantly exposed, and the courage they 
need to resist. They have learned to be modest, and the 
French who have seen them, perceive how little they resem¬ 
ble the others, from whom they are thus distinguished. 

“ One day instructing the old people in my cabin, and 
speaking of the creation of the world, and various stories from 
the Old Testament, they told me -what they had formerly be¬ 
lieved, but now treat as a fable. They have some knowledge 
of the tower of Babel, saying that their ancestors had related 
that they had formerly made a great house, but that a violent 
wind had thrown it down. They now despise all the little 
gods they had before they were baptized : they often ridicule 


liv 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


them, and wonder at their stupidity in sacrificing to these 
subjects of their fables. 

“I baptized an adult after along trial. Seeing his assi¬ 
duity at prayer, his frankness in recounting his past life, his 
promises especially with regard to the other sex, and his as¬ 
surance of good conduct, I yielded to his entreaty. He has 
persevered, and since bis return from fishing, comes regularly 
to chapel. After Easter, all the Indians dispersed to seek 
subsistence; they promised me that they would not forget 
the prayer, and earnestly begged that a father should come in 
the fall when they assemble again. This will be granted, 
and if it please God to send some father, he will take my 
place, while I, to execute the orders of our father superior, 
will go and begin my Ilinois mission. 

“The Ilinois are thirty days’ journey by land from Lapointe 
by a difficult road; they lie south-southwest of it. On the 
way you pass the nation of the Ketchigamins, who live in 
more than twenty large cabins; they are inland, and seek to 
have intercourse with the French, from whom they hope to 
get axes, knives, and ironware. So much do they fear them 
that they unbound from the stake two Ilinois captives, who 
said, when about to be burned, that the Frenchman had de¬ 
clared he wished peace all over the world. You pass then to 
the Miamiwek, and by great deserts reach the Ilinois, who 
are assembled chiefly in two towns, containing more than 
eight or nine thousand souls. These people are well enough 
disposed to receive Christianity. Since Father Allouez spoke 
to them at Lapointe, to adore one God, they have begun to 
abandon their false worship, for they adored the sun and 
thunder. Those seen by me are of apparently good disposi¬ 
tion ; they are not night-runners like the other Indians. A 
man kills his wife, if he finds her unfaithful; they are less 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. lv 

prodigal in sacrifices, and promise me to embrace Christi¬ 
anity, and do all I require in their country. In this view, 
the Ottawas gave me a young man recently come from their 
country, who initiated me to some extent in their language 
during the leisure given me in the winter by the Indians at 
Lapointe. I could scarcely understand it, though there is 
something of the Algonquin in it; yet I hope by the help of 
God’s grace to understand, and be understood if God by his 
goodness leads me to that country. 

u No one must hope to escape crosses in our missions, and 
the best means to live happy is not to fear them, but in the 
enjoyment of little crosses, hope for others still greater. The 
Ilinois desire us, like Indians, to share their miseries, and 
suffer all that can be imagined in barbarism. They are lost 
sheep to be sought amid woods and thorns, especially when 
they call so piteously to be rescued from the jaws of the 
wolf. Such really can I call their entreaties to me this win¬ 
ter. They have actually gone this spring to notify the old 
men to come for me in the fall. 

“The Ilinois always come by land. They sow maize which 
they have in great plenty; they have pumpkins as large as 
those of France, and plenty of roots and fruit. The chase is 
very abundant in wild-cattle, bears, stags, turkeys, duck, bus¬ 
tard, wild-pigeon, and cranes. They leave their towns at 
certain times every year to go to their hunting-grounds to¬ 
gether, so as to be better able to resist, if attacked. They be¬ 
lieve that I will spread peace everywhere, if I go, and then 
only the young will go to hunt. 

“ When the Ilinois come to Lapointe, they pass a large 
river almost a league wide. It runs north and south, and so 
far that the Ilinois, who do not know what canoes are, have 
never yet heard of its mouth; they only know that there are 


lvi 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


very great nations below them, some of whom raise two 
crops of maize a year. East-south-east of the country is a na¬ 
tion they call Chawanon, which came to visit them last sum¬ 
mer. The young man given me who teaches me the lan¬ 
guage saw them; they wear beads, which shows intercourse 
with Europeans; they had come thirty days across land be¬ 
fore reaching their country. This great river can hardly 
empty in Virginia, and we rather believe that its mouth is in 
California. If the Indians who promise to make me a canoe 
do not fail to keep their word, we shall go into this river as 
soon as we can with a Frenchman and this young man given 
me, who knows some of these languages, and has a readiness 
for learning others; we shall visit the nations which inhabit 
it, in order to open the way to so many of our fathers, who 
have long awaited this happiness. This discovery will give 
us a complete knowledge of the southern or western sea. 

“ Six or seven days below the Hois (sic) is another great 
river (Missouri), on which are prodigious nations, who use 
wooden canoes; we can not write more till next year, if God 
does us the grace to lead us there. 

The Ilinois are warriors; they make many slaves whom 
they sell to the Ottawas for guns, powder, kettles, axes, and 
knives. They were formerly at war with the Hadouessi, but 
having made peace some years since, I confirmed it, to facili¬ 
tate their coming to Lapointe, where I am going to await 
them, in order to accompany them to their country. 

The Hadouessi are the Iroquois of this country beyond La¬ 
pointe, but less faithless, and never attack till attacked. They 
lie southwest of the mission of the Holy Ghost, and are a 
great nation, though we have not yet visited them, having 
confined ourselves to the conversion of the Ottawas. They 
fear the Frenchman, because he brings iron into their coun- 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. lvii 

try. Their language is entirely different from the Huron and 
Algonquin ; they have many towns, but they are widely scat¬ 
tered ; they have very extraordinary customs; they princi¬ 
pally adore the calumet; they do not speak at great feasts, 
and when a stranger arrives, give him to eat with a wooden 
fork as we would a child. All the lake tribes make war 
on them, but with small success; they have false oats, use 
little canoes, and keep their word strictly. I sent them a 
present by an interpreter, to tell them to recognise the 
Frenchman everywhere, and not kill him or the Indians in 
his company; that the black-gown wished to pass to the 
country of the Assinipoiiars, to that of the Hilistinaux; that 
he was already at Outagamis, and that I was going this fall 
to the Ilinois, to whom they should leave a free passage. 
They agreed ; but as for my present waited till all came from 
the chase, promising to come to Lapointe in the fall, to hold 
a council with the Ilinois and speak to me. Would that all 
these nations loved God, as much as they fear the French! 
Christianity would soon flourish. 

“ The Assinipoiiars, whose language is almost that of the 
FTadouessi, are toward the west from the mission of the Holy 
Ghost; some are fifteen or twenty days off on a lake where 
they have false oats and abundant fishery. I have heard 
that there is in their country a great river running to the 
western sea, and an Indian told me that at its mouth he saw 
Frenchmen, and four large canoes with sails * 

‘The Kilistinaux are a nomad people, whose rendezvous 
we do not yet know. It is northwest of the mission of the 
Holy Ghost; they are always in the woods, and live solely 
by their bow. They passed by the mission where I was last 
fall in two hundred canoes, coming to buy merchandise and 


* This is not the first indication of the Columbia. 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


Iviii 

corn, after which they go to winter in the woods; in the 
spring I saw them again on the shore of the lake.”* 

Such is the substance of his letter as it has reached us, and 
shows us the hopes which Marquette entertained of reaching 
in the fall of that year, the Ilinois mission to which he had 
been appointed and for which he was now prepared by his 
knowledge of their language. If the Sioux and Ilinois met 
him at Lapointe in the fall, nothing was concluded ; and the 
missionary did not begin his overland journey to the lodges 
of the Ilinois. It is not, however, probable that the meeting 
took place ; for early in the winter the Sioux, provoked by 
the insolence of the Hurons and Ottawas, declared war, and 
first sent back to the missionaries the pious pictures w T hich he 
had sent them as a present. Their war parties now came on in 
their might, and the Indians of Lapointe trembled before the 
fierce Dahcotah with his knives of stone stuck in his belt, and 
in his long, black hair. In the spring both Huron and Ot¬ 
tawa resolved to leave so dangerous a neighborhood ; the 
latter were the first to launch upon the lake, and they soon 
made their way to Ekaentouton island. Father Marquette, 
whose missionary efforts had been neutralized by the unset¬ 
tled state of his neophytes, and the concentration of their 
thoughts on the all-engrossing war, was now left alone with 
the Hurons. With both he had more to suffer than to do; 
and now he was at last compelled to leave Lapointe, and turn 
his back on his beloved Ilinois to accompany his Hurons in 
their wanderings and hardships. The remnant of a mighty 
nation resolved once more to commit themselves to the waves 
and seek a new home: with their faithful missionary they all 
embarked in their frail canoes, and now for the first time 


* Eel. 1669-70, Ottawa part. 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


lix 


turned toward their ancient home. Fain would they have 
revisited the scenes of Huron power, the land of the fur-lined 
graves of their ancestors; fain too would the missionary have 
gone to spend his surviving years on the ground hallowed by 
the blood of Daniel, Brebeuf, Lalemant, Gamier, and Chaba- 
nel, but the power of the Iroquois was still too great to justify 
the step, and the fugitives remembering the rich fisheries of 
Mackinaw, resolved to return to that pebbly strand. 

But who, the reader may ask, were the Hurons with whom 
the missionary’s career seems thus linked, yet who at first 
were not the special object of his care. It is a tale worthy 
of an historian. 

The Wendats, whom the French called Ilnrons and the 
English Wyandots, are a nation of the same stock as the Iro¬ 
quois.* They were one of the first tribes known to the 
French, to whom they always remained closely united. They 
were a trading people, and their many fortified towns lay in 
a very narrow strip on Georgian Bay, a territory smaller than 
the state of Delaware. Between the west and southwest lay 
in the mountains the kindred tribe of the industrious Tionon- 
tates, whose luxuriant fields of tobacco, won them from the 
early French the name of Petuns, while south of both, from 
Lake St. Claire to Niagara and even slightly beyond were the 
allied tribes, which from the connection between their lan¬ 
guage and that of the Hurons, were called by the latter Atti- 
wandaronk, but Neutral by the French, from their standing 
aloof in the great war waged by the Iroquois against the 
Hurons and Algonquins. 

No sooner had the French founded Quebec than the Fran¬ 
ciscan missionaries attempted the conversion of the Hurons. 

* Champlain (Ed. 1613, p. 238), calls the Hurons les bons Yroquois, as dis¬ 
tinguished from the other Yroquois enemies. 


lx 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE 


Father Joseph Le Caron, the founder of that mission, win 
tered among them in 1615, and in subsequent years other 
recollects did their best to prepare them for the faith. The 
Jesuits were at last called in by the recollects to aid them, 
and laboring together in harmony, they looked forward with 
sanguine hope to the speedy conversion of the Hurons and 
Neuters, for they, too, were visited, when all their prospects 
were blasted by the English conquest of Canada, in 1629. 
On its restoration the French court offered the Canada mis¬ 
sions to the Capucins, but, on their recommendation, commit¬ 
ted it to the Jesuits alone. Brebeuf, for the second time, 
reached Upper Canada, and labored zealously on till the Hu¬ 
ron nation was annihilated by the Iroquois. Twenty-one mis¬ 
sionaries at different times came to share his toils, and of 
these eight like himself perished by hostile hands, martyrs to 
their faith and zeal, a nobler body of heroes than any other 
part of our country can boast. On the deaths of Brebeuf and 
Gamier, in 1650, the ruin of the Hurons and Petuns was con¬ 
summated. The survivors fled and blended into one tribe, 
soon divided into two great parties, one composed entirely of 
Christians, repairing to Quebec to settle on Orleans island, 
whose descendants are still lingering at Lorette; the other, 
part Christians, part pagans, fled at last to Mackinaw, but 
pursued constantly by the Iroquois, they next settled on some 
islands at the mouth of Green Bay, where they seem to have 
been in Menard’s time; later still, after roaming to the lodges 
of the Sioux on the Mississippi, they came to pitch their 
cabins by the mission cross planted by Allouez, at Chegoime- 
gon,* and here Marquette had found them. Such is the tale 
of their wanderings, till the period of our narrative.f 

* Eel 167l-’72. 

f Their subsequent wanderings are to Detroit, Sandusky, and at last to Indian 
territory, where the descendants of Marquette’s flock still exist, the smallest but 
wealthiest band of deported Indians. 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


lx i 


Mackinaw, where they now rested, was indeed a hleak 
spot to begin anew home; it was a point of land almost 
encompassed by wind-tossed lakes, icy as Siberian waters. 
The cold was intense, and cultivation difficult; but the waters 
teemed with fish, and the very danger and hardships of their 
capture gave it new zest. Besides this, it was a central point 
for trade, and so additionally recommended to the Huron, 
who still, as of old, sought to advance his worldly prospects 
by commerce. 

Stationed in this new spot, Father Marquette’s first care was 
to raise a chapel. Bude and unshapely was the first sylvan 
shrine raised by catholicity at Mackinaw; its sides of logs, its 
roof of bark had nothing to impress the senses, nothing to win 
by a dazzling exterior the wayward child of the forest; all 
was as simple as the faith he taught. Such was the origin 
of the mission of St. Ignatius, or Michilimackinac, already in 
a manner begun the previous year by missionary labors on 
the island of that name.* The Hurons soon built near the 
chapel a palisade fort, less stout and skilful indeed than the 
fortresses found in among their kindred Iroquois by Cartier 
and Champlain, but in their declining state sufficient for their 
defence. 

Mo details of Marquette’s labors during the first year have 
reached us; he wrote no letters to recount his wanderings,* 
but of the second year we are better informed. An unpub¬ 
lished manuscript gives us the following letter addressed to 
Father Dablon: — 

“ Bev. F ather : — 

“The Hurons, called Tionnont.ateronnons or Petun nation, 
who compose the mission of St. Ignatius at Michilimakinong 
began last year near the chapel a fort enclosing all their 

* Bel 1670-71, p. 144. 


Ixii LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

cabins. They have come regularly to prayers, and have lis¬ 
tened more readily to the instructions I gave them, consent¬ 
ing to what I required to prevent their disorders and abom¬ 
inable customs. We must have patience with untutored 
minds, who know only the devil, who like their ancestors have 
been his slaves, and who often relapse into the sins in which 
they were nurtured. God alone can fix these fickle minds, 
and place and keep them in his grace, and touch their hearts 
while we stammer at their ears. 

“The Tionnontateronnons number this year three hundred 
and eighty souls, and besides sixty Outaouasinagaux have 
joined them. Some of these came from the mission of St. 
Francis Xavier, where Father Andre wintered with them 
last year; they are quite changed from what I saw them at 
Lapointe ; the zeal and patience of that missionary have 
gained to the faith those hearts which seemed to us most 
averse to it. They now wish to be Christians; they bring 
their children to the chapel to be baptized, and come regu¬ 
larly to prayers. 

“Having been obliged to go to St. Marie du Sault with 
Father Allouez last summer, the Hurons came to the chapel 
during my absence as regularly as if I had been there, the 
girls singing what prayers they knew. They counted the days 
of my absence, and constantly asked when I was to be back; 
I was absent only fourteen days, and on my arrival all assem¬ 
bled at chapel, some coming even from their fields, which 
are at a very considerable distance. 

“ I went readily to their pumpkin-feast, where I instructed 
them, and invited them to thank God, who gave them food 
in plenty, while other tribes that had not yet embraced 
Christianity, were actually struggling with famine I ridi¬ 
culed dreams, and urged those who had been baptized to ac- 


I 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. Ixiii 

knowledge Him, whose adopted children they were. Those 
who gave the feast, though still idolaters, spoke in high terms 
of Christianity, and openly made the sign of the cross before 
all present. Some young men, whom they had tried by ridi¬ 
cule to prevent from doing it, persevered, and make the sign 
of the cross in the greatest assemblies, even wdien I am not 
present. 

“An Indian of distinction among the Hurons, having in¬ 
vited me to a feast where the chiefs were, called them sev¬ 
erally by name and told them that he wished to declare his 
thoughts, that all might know it, namely, that he was a 
Christian ; that he renounced the god of dreams and all their 
lewd dances; that the black-gowm was master of his cabin; 
and that for nothing that might happen would he forsake his 
resolution. Delighted to hear this, I spoke more strongly 
than I had ever yet done, telling them that my only design 
was to put them in the way of heaven ; that for this alone I 
remained among them ; that this obliged me to assist them 
at the peril of my life. As soon as anything is said in an as¬ 
sembly, it is immediately divulged through all the cabins, 
as I saw in this case by the assiduity of some in coming 
to prayers, and by the malicious efforts of others to neutralize 
my instructions. 

“ Severe as the winter is, it does not prevent the Indians 
from coming to the chapel. Some come twice a day, be the 
wind or cold what it may. Last fall I began to instruct some 
to make general confessions of their whole life, and to prepare 
others who had never confessed since their baptism. I would 
not have supposed that Indians could have given so exact an 
account of all that had happened in the course of their life; 
but it was seriously done, as some took two weeks to examine 
themselves. Since then, I have perceived a marked change, 


IxiV LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

so that they will not go even to ordinary feasts without ask¬ 
ing m 3 7 permission. 

“ I have this year baptized twenty-eight children, one of 
which had been brought from Ste. Marie du Sault, without 
having received that sacrament as the Rev. F. Ilenry Houvel 
informed me, to put me on my guard. Without my knowing 
it, the child fell sick, but God permitted that while instruct¬ 
ing in my cabin two important and sensible Indians, one 
asked me, whether such a sick child was baptized. I went 
at once, baptized it, and it died the next night. Some of the 
other children too are dead, and now in heaven. These are 
the consolations which God sends us, which make us esteem 
our life more happy as it is more wretched. 

“This, rev. father, is all I give about this mission, where 
minds are now more mild, tractable, and better disposed to 
receive instructions, than in any other part. I am ready, 
however, to leave it in the hands of another missionary to go 
on your order to seek new nations toward the south sea who 
are still unknown to us, and to teach them of our great God 
whom they have hitherto unknown.”* 

Such was the laborious post to which this talented, yet 
humble missionary condemned himself, daily subjected to the 
caprices of some, the insults and petty persecution of others, 
looking only to another world for the reward of labors which, 
crowned with the most complete success, would in the eyes 
of the world seem unimportant; but “ motives are the test of 
merit,” and convinced by the studies of riper years, no less 
than by the early teachings of a mother, that the baptismal 
promises were a reality, he sought to open by that sacrament 
the doors of bliss to the dying infant, or more aged but re- 


MS. Bel. 1672—*7 3. 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


Ixv 

penting sinner. To him the salvation of a single sonl was 
more grand and noble than the conquest of an empire, and 
thus borne up, he labored on. 

This letter of which the date is not given, nor the closing 
words, must have been written in the summer of 1672, and 
transmitted to Quebec by the Ottawa flotilla. The same con¬ 
veyance, doubtless, brought him back the assurance that his 
prayers had been heard, that the government had at last re¬ 
solved to act in the matter, and that he was the missionary 
selected to accompany the expedition. Ilis heart exulted at 
the prospect, though he foresaw the danger to which he was 
exposed, a health already shaken by his toils and hardships, 
a difficult and unknown way, the only nation known — the 
fierce Dahcotah—now hostile to the French and their allies, 
with many another tribe noted in Indian story for deeds of 
blood, closed up their path. But this did not alarm him. 
The hope of a glorious martyrdom while opening the way to 
future heralds of the cross, buoyed him up, though in his hu¬ 
mility he never spoke of martyrdom. To him it was but “a 
death to cease to offend God.” 

This now engrossed his thoughts, and he waited with anxi¬ 
ety the coming of Jolliet, named to undertake the expedition. 
At last he arrived, and by a happy coincidence on the feast 
of the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin, “ whom,” 
says the pious missionaiy, “ I had always invoked since my 
coming to the Ottawa country, in order to obtain of God the 
favor of being able to visit the nations on the Missisipi 
river.” 

The winter was spent in the necessary arrangements, regu¬ 
lating the affairs of his mission, which he left, it would seem, 
in the hands of Father Pierson, and in drawing up the maps 
and statements which Indian narrators could enable them to 


Ixvi LTFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

form. At last, on the 17ih of May, 1673, thej r embarked 
in two canoes at Mackinaw, and proceeded to Green Bay, 
whence ascending the Fox river they at last reached the 
Wisconsin by its portage, and glided down to the Mississippi. 
We need not here detail this remarkable voyage, the first 
down the great river, as his whole narrative is contained in 
the volume. Sufficient to say, that with Jolliet he descended 
to the Arkansas, and having thus ascertained the situation of 
the month, and the perfect navigability of the river, reas¬ 
cended it as far as the mouth of the Ilinois, into which they 
turned, and by a portage reached Lake Michigan, and in Sep¬ 
tember arrived without accident at the mission in Green Bay. 

In this voyage he twice met the Peoria tribe of the Ilinois, 
and baptized one dying child at the water’s edge, as lie left 
them finally. He also passed the Kaskaskia tribe of the 
same nation on the upper waters of the Ilinois, and having 
been already named an Ilinois missionary, he yielded to their 
earnest entreaties, and promised to return and begin a mis¬ 
sion among them.* He had now reached Green Bay, but 
his health had given way; he was prostrated b}^ disease, and 
was not completely restored before the close of the following 
summer. By the Ottawa flotilla of that year he transmitted 
to his superior copies of his journal down the Mississippi, and 
doubtless the map which w*e now publish. The return of the 
fleet of canoes brought him the necessary orders for the es¬ 
tablishment of the Ilinois mission ; and as his health was now 
restored, he set out on the 25th of October, 1674, for Kaskas¬ 
kia. The line of travel at that time was to coast along to the 
mouth of Fox river, then turn up as fin* as the little bay 
which nearly intersects the peninsula, where a portage was 
made to the lake. This was the route now taken by Mar- 


* See his narrative in this volume. 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


Ixvii 


quette with two men to aid him, accompanied by a number 
of Pottawotamies and Illinois. Peaching the lake, the canoes 
coasted along slowly, the missionary often proceeding on foot 
along the beautiful beach, embarking only at the rivers. He 
represents the navigation of the lake as easy ; u there being,” 
says he, “ no portage to make, and the landing easy, provided 
you do not persist in sailing when the winds and waves are 
high.” The soil except in the prairies was poor, but the 
chase was abundant, and they were thus well supplied. 

In spite of all his courage, he was at last unable to proceed; 
by the 23d of November his malady had returned, and though 
he continued to advance, exposed to the cold and snows, when 
he reached Chicago river on the 4th of December, he found 
the river closed, and himself too much reduced to be able to 
attempt that winter march by land. There was no alterna-* 
tive but to winter there alone, and accordingly instructing his 
Indian companions as far as time allowed, they went their 
way, and he remained with his two men at the portage. 
Within fifty miles of them were two other Frenchmen, trap- 
jiers and traders, one of whom was a surgeon at least in name, 
and still nearer an Illinois village. The former had prepared 
a cabin for the missionary, and one came now to visit him, 
bein£ informed of his ill health ; the Indians who had also 
heard it, wished to send a party to carry him and all his bag¬ 
gage, fearing that he might suffer from want. The good mis- 
sionarv, charmed at their solicitude, sent to reassure them on 
that head, although he was forced to tell them that if his mal¬ 
ady continued, he would find it difficult to visit them even in 
the spring. 

Alarmed at this, the sachems of the tribe assembled and 
deputed three to visit the blaekgown, bearing three sacks of 
corn, dried meat and pumpkins, and twelve beaver-skins; 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


Ixviii 

first, to make him a mat; second, to ask him for powder; 
third, to prevent his being hungry; fourth, to get some mer¬ 
chandise. “I answered them,” says Marquette in his last 
letter, “ first, that I came to instruct them by speaking of the 
prayer; second, that I would not give them powder, as we 
endeavor to make peace everywhere, and because I did not 
wish them to begin a war against the Miamis; third, that we 
did not fear famine; fourth, that I would encourage the 
French to bring them merchandise, and that they must make 
reparation to the traders there for the beads taken from them, 
while the surgeon was with me.” The missionary then gave 
them some axes, knives, and trinkets, in return for their pres¬ 
ents, and as a mark of his gratitude for their coming twenty 
leagues to visit him. Before he dismissed them, he promised 
to make every effort to reach the village, were it but for a few 
days. u On this,” says he, “ they bid me take heart and stay 
and die in their country, as I had promised to remain a long 
time,” and they returned to their winter-camps. 

Despairing now of being able to reach his destined goal 
without the interposition of Heaven, the missionary turned to 
the patroness of his mission, the blessed Virgin Immaculate, 
and with his two companions began a novena in her honor. 
Nor was his trust belied ; God heard his prayer, his illness 
ceased, and though still w^eak, he gradually gained strength, 
and when the opening of the river and the consequent inun¬ 
dation compelled them to remove, he again resumed his long 
interrupted voyage to Kaskaskia, then on the upper waters 
of the Illinois river. 

During this painful wintering, which for all his expres¬ 
sions of comfort, was one of great hardship and suffering, his 
hours were chiefly spent in prayer. Convinced that the term 
of his existence was drawing rapidly to a close, he consecrated 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. lxiX 

\ 

this period of quiet to the exercises of a spiritual retreat, in 
which his soul overflowed with heavenly consolations, as 
rising above its frail and now tottering tenement, it soared 
toward that glorious home it was so soon to enter. 

The journal of his last voyage* comes down to the sixth of 
April, when the weather arrested his progress; two days 
after he reached Kaskaskia, where he was received as an 
angel from heaven. It was now Monday in holy week, and 
he instantly began his preliminary instructions, assembling 
for that purpose the chiefs and old men, and going from 
cabin to cabin where new crowds constantly gathered. When 
he had thus prepared all to understand his meaning and ob¬ 
ject, he convoked a general assembly in the open prairie on 
Maunday-Thursday, and raising a rustic altar, adorned it 
with pictures of the blessed Virgin, under whose invocation 
he had placed his new mission ; he turned to the assembled 
chiefs and warriors, and the whole tribe seated or standing 
around, and by ten presents declared the object of his 
coming, and the nature of the faith he bore, explaining the 
principal mysteries of religion, and especially the mystery of 
redemption, the incarnation and death of the Son of God, 
which the church then commemorated. He then celebrated 
mass for the first time in his new mission, and during the fol¬ 
lowing days renewed his separate instructions. After cele¬ 
brating the great festival of Easter, his malady began to ap¬ 
pear once more, and he felt that the period granted to his 
earnest prayers was ended. The sole object to which he had 
for years directed all the aspirations of his heart was now at¬ 
tained. He had actually begun his Illinois mission; he had 
given them the first rudiments of instruction in public and in 
private; he had twice in their midst offered up the adorable 


* Printed in the appendix of this volume. 


lxx 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


sacrifice; there was no more to he asked on earth; he was 
content to die. * 

In hopes of reaching his former mission of Mackinaw to 
die with his religious brethren around him, fortified by the 
last rites of the church, he set out escorted to the lake by the 
Kaskaskias, to whom he promised that he, or some other mis¬ 
sionary should soon resume his labors. 

He seems to have taken the way by the St. Joseph’s river, 
and reached the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, along which 
he had not yet sailed. Ilis strength now gradually failed, 
and he was at last so weak that he had to be lifted in and 
out of his canoe when they landed each night. Calmly and 
cheerfully he saw the approach of death, for which he pre¬ 
pared by assiduous prayer; his office he regularly recited to 
the last day of his life ; a meditation on death, which he had 
long since prepared for this hour, he now made the subject 
of his thoughts; and as his kind but simple companions 
seemed overwhelmed at the prospect of their approaching 
loss, he blessed some water with the usual ceremonies, gave 
his companions directions how to act in his last moments, how 
to arrange his body when dead, and to commit it to the earth, 
with the ceremonies he prescribed. He now seemed but to 
seek a grave; at last perceiving the mouth of a river which 
still bears his name, he pointed to an eminence as the place 
of his burial. 

His companions, Peter Porteretand James --, still hoped 

to reach Mackinaw, but the wind drove them back, and they 
entered the river by the channel, where it emptied then, for 
it has since changed. They erected a little bark cabin, and 
stretched the dying missionary beneath it, as comfortably as 
their want permitted them. Still a priest, rather than a man J 
he thought of his ministry, and, for the last time, heard the 



LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 1XX1 

confessions of his companions, and encouraged them to rely 
with confidence on the protection of God, then sent them to 
take the repose they so much needed. When he felt his 
agony approaching he called them, and taking his crucifix 
from around his neck, he placed it in their hands, and pro¬ 
nouncing in a firm voice his profession of faith, thanked the 
Almighty for the favor of permitting him to die a Jesuit, a 
missionary and alone. Then he relapsed into silence, inter¬ 
rupted only by his pious aspirations, till at last, with the 
names of Jesus and Mary on his lips, with his eyes raised as 
if in ecstacy above his crucifix, with his face all radiant with 
joy, he passed from the scene of his labors to the God who 
was to be his reward. Obedient to his directions his com¬ 
panions, when the first outbursts of grief were over, laid out 
the body for burial, and to the sound of his little chapel-bell, 
bore it slowly to the point which he had pointed out. Here 
they committed his body to the earth, and raising a cross 
above it, returned to their now desolate cabin. 

Such was the edifying and holy death of the illustrious ex¬ 
plorer of the Mississippi, on Saturday, the 18th of May, 1675. 
He was of a cheerful, joyous disposition, playful even in his 
manner, and universally beloved. His letters show him to 
us a man of education, close observation, sound sense, strict 
integrity, a freedom from exaggeration, and yet a vein of 
humor which here and there breaks out, in spite of all his 
self-command. 

But all these qualities are little compared to his zeal as a 
missionary, to his sanctity as a man. His holiness drew on 
him in life the veneration of all around him, and the lapse of 
years has not even now destroyed it in the descendants of 
those who knew him.* In one of his sanctity, we naturally 

* It led to the romantic tales which have even found their way into sober 
history. The missionaries in the west now hear the same account as that which 
Charlevoix believed and inserted. 


lxxii 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


find an all-absorbing devotion to the mother of the Savior, 
with its constant attendants, an angelical love of purity, and 
a close union of the heart with God. It is, indeed, charac¬ 
teristic of him. The privilege which the church honors under 
the title of the Immaculate Conception, was the constant ob¬ 
ject of his thoughts; from his earliest youth, he daily recited 
the little office of the Immaculate Conception, and fasted 
every Saturday in her honor. As a missionary, a variety of 
devotions directed to the same end still show his devotions 
and to her he turned in all his trials. "When he discovered 
the great river, w T hen he founded his new mission, he gave it 
the name of the Conception, and no letter, it is said, ever 
came from his hand that did not contain the words, “ Blessed 
Virgin Immaculate,” and the smile that lighted up his dying 
face, induced his poor companions to believe that she had 
appeared before the eyes of her devoted client. 

Like St. Francis Xavier, whom he especially chose as the 
model of his missionary career, he labored nine years for the 
moral and social improvement of nations sunk in paganism 
and vice, and as he W’as alternately with tribes of varied 
tongues, found it was necessary to acquire a knowledge of 
many American languages; six he certainly spoke with ease; 
many more he is known to have understood less perfectly. 
His death, however, was as he had always desired, more like 
that of the apostle of the Indies; there is, indeed, a striking 
resemblance between their last moments, and the wretched 
cabin, the desert shore, the few destitute companions, the 
lonely grave, all harmonize in Michigan and Sancian. 

He was buried as he had directed on a rising ground near 

the little river, and a cross raised above his grave showed 

. • 

to all the place of his rest. The Indians soon knew it, and 
two years after his death, and almost on the very anniversary 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


lxxiii 


his own flock, the Kiskakons, returning from their hunt 
stopped there, and with Indian ideas, resolved to disinter 
their father, and bear his revered bones to their mission. At 
once they did so; the bones were placed in a neat box of 
hark, and the flotilla now become a funeral convoy, pro¬ 
ceeded on its way; the missionary thus accomplishing in 
death the voyage which life had not enabled him to terminate. 
A party of Iroquois joined them, and as they advanced to 
Mackinaw, other canoes shot out to meet them with the two 
missionaries of the place, and there upon the waters rose the 
solemn De Profundis, continued till the body reached the land. 
It was then borne to the church with cross, and prayer, and 
tapers burning like his zeal, and incense rising like his aspi¬ 
rations to heaven; in the church a pall had been arranged in 
the usual form for a coffin, and beneath it was placed the 
little box of bark, which was next, after a solemn service, 
deposited in a little vault in the middle of the church, 
“ where,” says our chronicler, “ he reposes as the guardian- 
an^el of our Ottawa missions.” 

There he still reposes, for I find no trace of any subsequent 
removal; vague tradition, like that of his death as given by 
Charlevoix and others, would indeed still place him at the 
mouth of his river; but it is certain that he was transferred 
to the church of old Mackinaw, in 1677. This church was, as 
I judge from a manuscript Relation (1675), erected subsequent 
to the departure of Marquette from Mackinaw, and probably 
about 1674. The founding of the post of Detroit drew from 
Mackinaw the Christian Hurons and Ottawas, and the place 
became deserted. Despairing of being able to produce any 
good among the few pagan Indians, and almost as pagan 
coureurs-de-bois who still lingered there, the missionaries re¬ 
solved to abandon the post, and set fire to their church in or 


lxxiv 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


about the year 1706. Another was subsequently erected, but 
this too has long since disappeared.* 

The history of his narrative and map are almost as curious 
as that of his body. We have seen that lie transmitted copies 
to his superior, and went to his last mission. Frontenac had 
promised to send a copy to the government, and in all proba¬ 
bility he did. At this moment the publication of the Jesuit 
Relations ceases ; though not from choice on their part as the 
manuscript of the year 1672-’73 prepared for the press 
Father Dablon, still exists ; it could not have been from any 
difficulty on the part of the printer, as the announcement of 
the expedition to the Mississippi would have given it circula¬ 
tion, even though the journal itself were reserved for the next 
year. To the French government then we must attribute the 
non-publication of further relations, the more so, as they neg¬ 
lected to produce the narrative of Marquette in their posses¬ 
sion. The whole might have fallen into perfect oblivion, had 
not the narrative come into the hands of Thevenot who had 
just published a collection of travels; struck with the im¬ 
portance of this, he issued a new volume in 1681, called Re- 
ceuil de Voyages, in which the journal of Father Marquette 
as commonly known, appeared with a map of the Mississippi. 
The narrative is evidently taken from a manuscript like that 
in my hands, in the writing of which I can see the cause of 
some of the strange forms which Indian names have assumed. 
The opening of the narrative was curtailed, and occasional 
omissions made in the beginning, few at the end. The map 
is so different from that which still exists in the hand-writing 

* In La Hontan there is a plan of Mackinaw, with the site of the church in 
which Marquette was buried. As to its fidelity, I can not speak; but with that 
of Beilin in 1744, showing the sites of the second church at old Mackinaw, and 
the third one in new Mackinaw, the place of the original one, and of Marquette’s 
grave, may perhaps be determined. 


LIFE OF FATIIER MARQUETTE. lxXV 

of Father Marquette, that it is not probable that it was 
taken from it. With greater likelihood we may believe it to 
be Jolliet’s map drawn from recollection, which Frontenac, 
as his despatch tells us, transmitted to France in 1674. If 
this be so, it has a new value as an original map, and not a 
blundering copy. Sparks, in his life of Father Marquette, 
observes truly of this first-published map of the Mississippi, 
44 It was impossible to construct it, without having seen the 
principal objects delineated and he adds, 44 It should be 
kept in mind that this map was published at Paris, in the 
year 1681, and consequently the year before the discoveries 
of La Salle on the Mississippi, and that no intelligence re¬ 
specting the country it represents, could have been obtained 
from any source subsequently to the voyage of Marquette.”* 

Of the narrative itself, he says, 44 It is written in a terse, 
simple, and unpretending style. The author relates what oc¬ 
curs, and describes what he sees without embellishment or 
display. ' lie writes as a scholar, and as a man of careful ob¬ 
servation and practical sense. There is no tendency to exag¬ 
gerate, nor any attempt to magnify the difficulties he had to 
encounter, or the importance of his discovery. In every point 
of view, this tract is one of the most interesting of those, 
which illustrate the early history of America.” 

In spite of all this it was overlooked and nearly forgotten; 
all the writers connected with La Salle’s expedition except 
the first edition of Hennepin, published in 1683, speak of 
Jolliet’s voyage as a fiction. Marquette they never mention; 

* The map in Thevenot had an addition of the editor in the words chemin de 
bailee, and chemin du retour. The latter is incorrect, but it came from his en¬ 
deavor to make Father Marquette meet the Peorias on his return. He did not 
know that the villages went into a body to hunt, and that the two explorers 
might thus have met them below the IIinois river, or on it. Other errors on the 
map are easily rectified. The change of the letter gives us Misscousing, Cach- 
kachkia, Demon (des monts), Pewarea, Allini-wek, <fcc. 


lxxvi 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


but in Le Clercq and those whom he cites, in the second 
Hennepin, in Joutel, in all in fact, except the faithful Tonty, 
the narrative of Marquette is derided, called a fable, or nar¬ 
rative of a pretended voyage ; and one actually goes so far as 
to say that, sailing up the river with the book in his hand, he 
could not find a word of truth in it. As a necessary result 
of these assertions which few examined, most 'writers in 
France and elsewhere passed over it, and in works on the 
Mississippi, no discovery prior to that of La Salle is men¬ 
tioned. Even Harris, who cites Marquette by name as descri¬ 
bing the calumet, and calls him a man of good sense and fair 
character, does not give him due credit as the first explorer.* 

“ Indeed the services and narrative would hardly have es¬ 
caped from oblivion, had not Charlevoix brought them to 
light in his great work on Canada, nearly seventy years after 
the events.’‘f 

As to the charges themselves, they are clearly refuted by 
Frontenae’s despatches. Hennepin, in his Description de la 
Louisiane, (p. 13), and F. Anastasius in Le Clercq (p. 364), 
admit that Jolliet descended the Mississippi below the mouth 
of the Missouri. Membre evidently alludes to his work (p. 
259). Thus even his maligners admit that he was on the 
river, and without the despatches, without the force of its pub¬ 
lication prior to La Salle’s voyage, we need only weigh the 
respective writers by their works. We find in Marquette 
simple narrative, in* the others, the declamation of partisans, 
and the disposition to deprive Jolliet and Marquette of the 
honor of reaching the Mississippi at all, though they are 
forced to admit it. 

* Yol ii., p. 351. On the preceding page he has a summary, but just condem¬ 
nation of Hennepin and Lahontan. 

f And even he misdates the time of its publication. Thevenot’s edition, of 
which Harvard possesses a copy, was issued in 1681, not 1687. 


/ 


/ 

LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. Ixxvil 

Meanwhile one of the copies, after having been prepared 
for publication by Father Claude Dablon, superior of the 
mission, with the introductory and supplementary matter in 
the form in which we now give it, lay unnoticed and un¬ 
known in the archives of the Jesuit college at Quebec. It 
did not even fall into the hands of Father Charlevoix when 
collecting material for his history, for he seems to have made 
little research if any into the manuscripts at the college of 
Quebec. A few years after the publication of liis work, 
Canada fell into the hands of England, and the Jesuits and 
Recollects, as religious orders, were condemned, the reception 
of new members being positively forbidden. The members 
of each order now formed Toijtints, the whole property, on the 
death of the last survivor, to go to the British government, 
or to the law knows whom, if situated in the United States. 

The last survivor of the Jesuits, Father Cazot, after behold¬ 
ing that venerable institution, the college of Quebec closed 
for want of professors, and Canada deprived of its only and 
Northern America of its oldest collegiate seat of learning, 
felt at last that death would soon close with him the Society 
of Jesus in Canada. A happy forethought for the historic 
past induced him to wish to commit to other than to state 
hands, some objects and documents regarded as relics by the 
members of his society. Of these he made a selection, un¬ 
fortunately too moderate and too rapid, and these papers he 
deposited in the Hotel Dieu, or hospital at Quebec, an insti¬ 
tution destined to remain, as the nuns who directed it had 
not fallen under the ban of the government. They continued 
in their hands from shortly before 1800 till 1844, when the 
faithful guardians of the trust presented them to the Rev. F. 
Martin, one of the Jesuit fathers who returned in 1842 to the 
scene of the labors and sacrifices of their society. On the 


lxxviii 


LIFE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


application of Mr. B. F. French to publish the narrative of 
Marquette in his Historical Collections, and apply the pro¬ 
ceeds, and such other sums as might be received, to the erec¬ 
tion of a monument to the great discoverer of the Mississippi, 
the manuscript journal and map were committed to the hands 
of the writer of these sketches. 

This narrative is a very small quarto, written in a very 
clear hand, with occasional corrections, comjwising in all, 
sixty pages. Of these, thirty-seven contain his voyage down 
the Mississippi, which is complete except a hiatus of one leaf 
in the chapter on the calumet; the rest are taken up with the 
account of his second voyage, death and burials, and the 
voyage of Father Allouez. The last nine lines on page 60, 
are in the hand-writing of Father Dablon, and were written 
as late as 1678. 

With it were found the original map in the hand-writing 
of Father Marquette, as published now for the first time, and 
a letter begun but never ended by him, addressed to Father 
Dablon, containing a journal of the voyage on which he died, 
beginning with the twenty-sixth of October, (1674), and run¬ 
ning down to the sixth of April. The endorsements on it, 
in the same hand as the direction ascribe, the letter to 
Father Marquette; and a comparison between it, the written 
parts of the map, and a signature of his found in a parish 
register at Boucherville, would alone, without any knowledge 
of its history, establish the authenticity of the map and letter. 


NOTICE ON THE SIEUR JOLLIET. 


After so extended a notice on Father Marquette, it would 
seem unjust to say nothing of his illustrious companion in his 
great voyage. It would he doubly interesting to give a full 
account of Jolliet, as he was a native of the country, hut un¬ 
fortunately our materials are scanty and our notices vague. 

Neither his birthplace nor its epoch has, as far as the 
present writer knows, been ascertained. His education he 
owed to the Jesuit college of Quebec, where, unless I am 
mistaken, he was a class-mate of the first Canadian who was 
advanced to the priesthood. Jolliet was thus connected with 
the Jesuits, and apparently was an assistant in the college. 
After leaving them, he proceeded to the west to seek his for¬ 
tune in the fur-trade. Here he was always on terms of inti¬ 
macy with the missionaries, and acquired the knowledge and 
experience which induced the government to select him as 
the explorer of the Mississippi. 

This choice was most agreeable to the missionaries, and he 
and Marquette immortalized their names. They explored 
the great river, and settled all doubts as to its course. On 
his return Jolliet lost all his papers in the rapids above Mon¬ 
treal, and could make but a verbal report to the government. 
This, however, he reduced to writing, and accompanied with 
a map drawn from recollection. On the transmission of these 


lxxx 


NOTICE ON THE SIEUR JOLLIET. 


to France, Le, doubtless, expected to be enabled to carry out 
sucb plans as be bad conceived, and to profit to some extent 
by his great discovery. But be was thrown aside by more 
flattered adventurers. The discoverer of Mississippi was re¬ 
warded as if in mockery with an island in the gulf of St. 
Law T rence. This w T as Anticosti, and here Jolliet built a fort 
and a dwelling for bis family, and bouses for trade. They 
were not, however, destined to be a source of emolument to 
him. Ilis labors were devoted also to other fields. Thus 
we find him, in 1689, in the employment of the government, 
rendering essential services in the w^est. 

Two years after bis island was taken by the English fleet, 
and be himself, with bis wife and mother-in-law, probably 
while attempting to reach Quebec, fell into the hands of 
Phipps, the English commander. His vessel and property 

were a total loss, but his liberty lie recovered when the Eng- 

\ ' 

lish retired from the walls of Quebec. 

Of his subsequent history there are but occasional traces, 
and we know only that he died some years prior to 1737. 

Authorities: Charlevoix, La Hontan, vol. i., p. 323; ii., p. 10. MS. Journal 
of the Superior of the Jesuits. Bouchctt's Topograph. Die. Canada. Titles: An¬ 
ticosti and Jolliet. 


RELATION 


OF THE 

VOYAGES, DISCOVERIES, AND DEATH, 

OF 

FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE, 

AND 

THE SUBSEQUENT VOYAGES OF FATHER CLAUDIUS ALLOUEZ, 

BY 

FATHER CLAUDIUS DABLON, 

SUPERIOR OF THE MISSIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, IN NEW FRANCE. 


PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION IN 1678. 


NOTICE ON FATHER DABLON. 


Father Claudius Dablon came to Canada in 1655, and was immediately sent 
to Onondaga, where he continued with but one short interval of absence till the 
mission was broken up in 1658. Three years after, he and the hardy Druilletes 
attempted to reach Hudson’s bay, by the Saguenay, but were arrested at the 
sources of the Nekouba by Iroquois war-parties. In 1668, he followed Father 
Marquette to Lake Superior, became superior of the Ottawa mission, founded 
Sault St. Mary’s, visited Green bay, and reached the Wisconsin with Allouez. 
then returned to Quebec to assume his post as superior of all the Canada mis¬ 
sions. This office he held with intervals for many years, certainly till 1693, 
and he was still alive, but not apparently superior in the following year. As 
the head of the missions, he contributed in no small degree to their extension, 
and above all, to the exploration of the Mississippi, by Marquette, He pub¬ 
lished the Relations of 1670—’T1, and ’72, with their accurate map of Lake 
Superior, and prepared for press those of 1672—’73 and 1673-79, which still re¬ 
main in manuscript, and the following narratives of Marquette and Allouez. 
The period of his death is unknown. 

His writings are the most valuable collection on the topography of the north¬ 
west, which have come down to our days. 


THE 


VOYAGES AND DISCOVERIES 


OF 

FATHER JAMES MARQTJETTE, 

IN 

THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 


CHAPTER I. 

OF THE FIRST VOYAGE MADE BY FATHER MARQUETTE TOWARD NEW 
MEXICO, AND HOW THE DESIGN WAS CONCEIVED. 

I FATHER Marquette liacl long projected this enter¬ 
prise, impelled by his ardent desire of extending the 
kingdom of Jesns Christ, and of making him known and 
adored by all the nations of that country. He beheld him¬ 
self, as it were, at the door of these new nations, when, in 
1670, he was laboring at the mission of Lapointe du St. 
Esprit,* which is at the extremity of the upper Lake of the 
Ottawas. He even saw at times many of those new tribes, 
concerning whom he gathered all the information that he 
could. This induced him to make several efforts to under¬ 
take the enterprise, but always in vain; he had even given 

* This place is now called simply Lapointe, as the lake is called Superior, 
retaining only the first word of its former name, Lac Superieur aux Outaouacs. 



4 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


up all hopes of succeeding, when the Almighty presented 
him the following opportunity :— 

In 1673, the Comte de Frontenac,* our governor and Mr. 
Talon then our intend ant, knowing the importance of this 
discovery, either to seek a passage from here to the China 
sea by the river which empties into the California or Red 
sea,f or to verify what was afterward said of the two king¬ 
doms of Theguaio and Quivira, which border on Canada, # and 
where gold mines are, it is said abundant ,\ these gentlemen, 

* Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, succeeded M. de Courcelles in the gov¬ 
ernment of Canada, in 1672. M. Talon, the wise and energetic intendant of the 
colony, seeing the advantages to be derived to France from the discovery of the 
Mississippi river, immediately, on the arrival of Comte de Frontenac, laid before 
him his plan for exploring that river, which was adopted, and the administra¬ 
tion of Frontenac is signalized by the first exploration of the Mississippi by Mar¬ 
quette and Jollyet, between the Wisconsin and Arkansas, and by the subsequent 
voyage of La Salle, who continued the survey to the gulf, while his companion, 
Hennepin, visited the portion between the Wisconsin and St. Anthony’s falls. 
But before the return of La Salle, Comte de Frontenac’s term had expired, and 
he was, in 1682, succeeded by M. Lefebore de la Barre. But he was afterward 
re-instated governor of Canada in 1689, and died at the age of seventy-seven. 
He was a brave and ambitious man, and to his wise administration may be 
attributed the consolidation of French power in North America.—F. 

f The gulf of California was called by the Spaniards Mar de Cortes, or more 
commonly Mar Bermejo, from its resemblance in shape and color to the Red 
sea. Gomara His de las Indias, p. 12. Cluvier Introductio. Yenegas His- 
toria de la California. Clavigero, Storia della California, p. 29. In ignorance of 
this fact, the French translated Bermejo by Vermeille, and English writers 
Vermillion. 

\ Theguaio, or commonly Tiguex, and sometimes apparently Tejas, and Qui¬ 
vira, were two kingdoms as to which the imagination of the Spaniards, and espe¬ 
cially of the Mexicans, had become so aroused that Feijoo in his Teatro Critico 
includes them in the category of fabled lands, St. Brandon’s Isle, the Eldorado, 
<fcc., although he admits that he hesitated as he found Quivira mentioned by 
every geographer. These two kingdoms which lay east of the country north of 
the river Gila, and are probably the present New Mexico and Texas, were first 
made known by the attempt of a Franciscan missionary to reach the rich coun¬ 
tries of the interior which had been spoken of by Cabeza de Yaca. The mission¬ 
ary in question, Fray Marc, a native of Nice in Italy, crossed the Gila, and from 
the well-built houses and cotton dresses of the people, easily gave credit to the 
accounts of more wealthy tribes. A subsequent expedition showed that he had 
been mistaken, and none but hardy missionaries sought to penetrate to the fabled 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


5 


I say, both at the same time selected for the enterprise the 
Sieur Jollyet, whom they deemed competent for so great a 
design, wishing to see Father Marquette accompany him.* 

They were not mistaken in their choice of the Sieur Jollyet, 
for he was a young man, born in this country, and endowed 
with every quality that could be desired in such an enterprise. 
He possessed experience and a knowledge of the languages of 
the Ottawaf country, where he had spent several years; he 
had the tact and prudence so necessary for the success of a 
voyage equally dangerous and difficult; and, lastly, he had 
courage to fear nothing where all is to be feared. He ac¬ 
cordingly fulfilled the expectations entertained of him, and 
if, after having passed through dangers of a thousand kinds, 
he had not unfortunately been wrecked in the very harbor— 
his canoe having upset below the Sant St. Louis, near Mon¬ 
treal, where he lost his men and papers, and only escaped 
by a kind of miracle with his life — the success of his voyage 
had left nothing to be desired. 

land. The belief of its mineral wealth was, however, too deeply rooted to be 
easily shaken, and the discovery of California’s resources in our days has justi¬ 
fied it, and shown that Talon in seeking to reach California from Canada, 
attempted no chimerical project. 

* It would seem by this wording that Marquette was not officially chosen for 
the expedition. The troubles at the time between the civil and ecclesiastical 
authorities will account for this, while the researches made by Marquette as to 
the river, and his knowledge of the Indians and their dialects, rendered it im¬ 
portant that he should be one of the party. That his account alone survived, and 
that it was published in his name, was something neither expected nor intended 
by any of those concerned, as M. Jollyet had prepared an account of the expedi¬ 
tion, the loss of which, as stated in the text, alone raised the journal of Father 
Marquette to its present degree of importance. (In 1680, the French govern¬ 
ment rewarded the Sieur Jollyet for this eminent service by a grant of the 
island of Anticosti, in the gulf of St. Lawrence; and, in 1697, by the seignory of 
Jollyet, in Beauce county, Canada, which is now the property of the Hon. T. 
Taschereau, one of the judges of the court of King’s bench.) 

\ The Ottawas, or Outaouacs, were first called by the French, Oheveux Re- 
leves, and placed on Great Manitouline.— Champlain , 262, Segard , 201. Their 
Indian name is then given in the form, Andatahouats. The earlier Jesuit Itela- 


6 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


\ 


SECTION I. 

DEPARTURE OF FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE 
GREAT RIVER, CALLED BY THE INDIANS MISSISIPI, WHICH LEADS TO NEW 
MEXICO. 

The day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Vir¬ 
gin, whom I had always invoked since I have been in this 
Ottawa country, to obtain of God the grace to be able to visit 
the nations on the river Missisipi,* was identically that on 
which M. Jollyet arrived with orders of the Comte de Fron- 
tenac, our governor, and M. Talon, our intend ant, to make 
this discovery with me. I was the more enraptured at this 
good news, as I saw my designs on the point of being accom¬ 
plished, and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my 
life for the salvation of all these nations, and particularly for 
the Ilinois, who had, when I was at Lapointe du St. Esprit, 
very earnestly entreated me to carry the word of God to their 
country. 

We were not long in preparing our outfit, although we 

tions call them Ondatawawak, and Bressani, Ondawawat. Under the form Outa- 
oiiacs (Uttawax), it was applied as a general term to all the Algonquin tribes on 
Lake Superior and Michigan who traded with the French. The English in the 
same way applied to them the name of the tribe which they called Chippeways, 
and the French, Outchibouee, which is still more diversified by the new spelling 
Ojibwa, introduced by Schoolcraft. 

* The name of this river is derived from the Algonquin language one of the 
original tongues of our continent. It was spoken by every tribe from the Chesa¬ 
peake to the gulf of St. Lawrence, and running westward to the Mississippi and 
Lake Superior. The Abnakis, Montngnnis, Algonquins proper, Ottawas, Nipis- 
6ings, Nezperces, Illinois, Miamis, Sacs, Foxes, Mohegans, Delawares, Shawnees 
and Virginia Indians, as well as the minor tribes of New England, all spoken 
dialects of this widespread language. The only exception in this vast strip of 
territory, was the Huron-Iroquois language, spoken by the Hurons, Petuns, 
Neuters, and Iroquois, which is distinct from the Algonquin. The word Missis¬ 
sippi is a compound of the word Missi, signifying great, and Sepe, a river. The 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


7 


were embarking on a voyage the duration of which we could 
not foresee. Indian corn, with some dried meat, was our 
whole stock of provisions. With this we set out in two bark 
canoes,* M. Jollyet, myself, and five men, firmly resolved to 
do all and suffer all for so glorious an enterprise. 

It was on the 17th of May, 1673, that we started from the 
mission of St. Ignatius at Micliilimakinac,f where I then was. 
Our joy at being chosen for this expedition roused our cour¬ 
age, and sweetened the labor of rowing from morning till 
night. As we were going to seek unknown countries, we 
took all possible precautions, that, if our enterprise was haz¬ 
ardous, it should not be foolhardy : for this reason we gathered 
all possible information from Indians who had frequented 
those parts, and even from their accounts traced a map of all 
the new country, marking down the rivers on which we were 
to sail, the names of the nations and places through which 


former is variously pronounced Missil, or Michil, as in Michilimackinac; Miclii, 
as in Michigan ; Missu, as in Missouri; and Missi, as in Mississippi. The word 
Sipi may be considered as the English pronunciation, derived through the 
medium of the French, of Scpe, and affords an instance of an Indian term of 
much melody, being corrupted by Europeans, into one that lias a harsh and 
hissing sound.—F. 

* The two frail canoes which bore these adventurous travellers from the 
snows of Canada to the more genial clime of the Arkansas, were constructed 
entirely different from those wood canoes with which the Indians navigated the 
Hudson, and the Delaware, and which we still occasionally see in use among 
our western tribes. The Canadian canoe made use of in this expedition, was 
built of birch-bark, cedar splints, and ribs of spruce roots, covered with yellow 
pine pitch, so light and so strong, that they could be carried across portages on 
the shoulders of four men, and paddled at the rate of four miles per hour in 
smooth water. For river navigation, where there are no rapids or portages, 
nothing could be better adapted for explorations; and they were used in subse¬ 
quent expeditions to explore the Missouri, St. Peters, Columbia, and Mackenzie 
rivers.—F. 

f This is not the island, but the point north of it in the present county of 
that name. (Charlevoix.) The mission was subsequently on the south, if we 
credit Charlevoix’s maps, and finally on the island of that name. 


8 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQTJETTE. 


we were to pass, the course of the great river, and what direc¬ 
tion we should take when we got to it. 

Above all, I put our voyage under the protection of the 
Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising her, that if she did us 
the grace to discover the great river, I would give it the 
name of Conception; and that I would also give that name 
to the first mission which I should establish among these new 
nations, as I have actually done among the Ilinois.* 


SECTION II. 

THE FATHER VISITS BY THE WAY THE WILD-OATS TRIBES.—WHAT THESE 
WILD OATS ARE.—HE ENTERS THE BAY OF THE FETID.—SOME PARTICULARS 
AS TO THIS BAY.—HE REACHES THE FIRE NATION. 

With all these precautions, we made our paddles play 
merrily over a part of Lake Huron and that of the Ilinois 
into the Bay of the Fetid. 

The first nation that we met was that of the Wild Oats.f 
I entered their river to visit them, as we have preached the 

* The name which the pious missionary gave to the Mississippi, is found only 
here, and on the accompanying map, which corresponds perfectly with his nar¬ 
rative. The name of the Immaculate Conception, which he gave to the mission 
among the Kaskaskias, was retained as long as that mission lasted, and is now 
the title of the church in the present town of Kaskaskia. Although his wish 
was not realized in the name of the great river, it has been fulfilled in the fact 
that the Blessed Virgin, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, has been 
chosen by the prelates of the United States assembled in a national council as 
the patroness of the whole country, so that not only in the vast valley of the 
Mississippi, but from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the Blessed Virgin Immaculate is 
as dear to every American Catholic, as is Our Lady of Guadeloupe to our Mexi¬ 
can neighbors. 

f This plant, the Zizania Aquatica, of Linn., is perennial and forms the prin¬ 
cipal food of most of the northwestern tribes. It is called in English, wild rice; 
and in French, Folles-Avoine, or wild oats. It was first accurately described in the 
Eel. 1662-63, apparently from Menard’s Letters. The tribe here alluded to are 
the Oumalouminik, Malhominies or Menomonees, whose river still shows their 
locality.— Eel. 1672-73. MS. 



DISCOVERIES IN TIIE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


9 


gospel to these tribes for some years past, so that there are 
many good Christians among them. 

The wild oats, from which they take their name, as they are 
found in their country, are a kind of grass which grows spon¬ 
taneously in little rivers with slimy bottoms, and in marshy 
places; they are very like the wild oats that grow up among 
our wheat. The ears are on stalks knotted at intervals ; they 
rise above the water about the month of June, and keep rising 
till they float about two feet above it. The grain is not 
thicker than our oats, but is as long again, so that the meal is 
much more abundant. 

The following is the manner in which the Indians gather it 
and prepare it for eating. In the month of September, which 
is the proper time for this harvest, they go in canoes across 
these fields of wild oats, and shake the ears on their right 
and left into the canoe as they advance ; the grain falls easily 
if it is ripe, and in a little while their provision is made. To 
clear it from the chaff, and strip it of a pellicle in which it is 
enclosed, they put it to dry in the smoke oil a wooden lattice, 
under which they keep up a small fire for several days. 
When the oats are well dried, they put them in a skin of the 
form of a bag, which is then forced into a hole made on 
purpose in the ground; they then tread it out so long and so 
well, that the grain being freed from the chaff is easily win¬ 
nowed ; after which they pound it to reduce it to meal, or 
even unpounded, boil it in water seasoned with grease, and 
in this way, wild oats are almost as palatable as rice would be 
when not better seasoned. 

I informed these people of the Wild Oats of my design of 
going to discover distant nations to instruct them in the mys¬ 
teries of our Holy Keligion; they w T ere very much surprised, 
and did their best to dissuade me. They told me, that I 


10 ' NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

would meet nations that never spare strangers, but tomahawk 
them without any provocation ; that the war which had 
broken out among various nations on our route, exposed us 
to another evident danger•—that of being killed by the war- 
parties which are constantly in the field; that the Great 
River is very dangerous, unless the difficult parts are known; 
that it was full of frightful monsters who swallowed up men 
and canoes together; that there is even a demon there who 
can be heard from afar, who stops the passage and engulfs 
all who dare approach ; lastly, that the heat is so excessive in 
those countries, that it would infallibly cause our death. 

I thanked them for their kind advice, but assured them 
that I could not follow it, as the salvation of souls was con¬ 
cerned ; that for them, I should be too happy to lay down 
my life; that I made light of their pretended demon, that 
we would defend ourselves well enough against the river- 
monsters ; and, besides, we should be on our guard to avoid 
the other dangers with which they threatened us. After 
having made them pray and given them some instruction, I 
left them, and, embarking in our canoes, we soon after reached 
the extremity of the Bay of the Fetid, where our Fathers 
labor successfully in the conversion of these tribes, having 
baptized more than two thousand since they have been there. 

This bay bears a name which has not so bad a meaning 
in the Indian language, for they call it rather Salt Bay 
than Fetid Bay, although among them it is almost the same, 
and this is also the name which they give to the sea. This 
induced us to make very exact researches to discover 
whether there were not in these parts some salt springs, as 
there are among the Iroquois, but we could not find any* 

* The tribe called by the French, Puants, were the Ouenibegouc, our Winne- 
bagoes. Rel. 1672-73. MS. Dela Potherie, vol. ii., p. 48. In the Relation of 


DISCOVERIES IN' THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


11 


We accordingly concluded that the name has been given on 
account of the quantity of slime and mud there, constantly 
exhaling noisome vapors which cause the loudest and longest 
peals of thunder that I ever heard. 

The hay is about thirty leagues long, and eight wide at its 
mouth; it narrows gradually to the extremity, where it is easy 
to remark the tide which has its regular flow and ebb, almost 
like that of the sea. This is not the place to examine whether 
they are real tides, whether they are caused by the winds, or 
by some other age; whether there are winds, out-riders of 
the moon, or attached to her suite, who consequently agitate 
the lake and give it a kind of flow and ebb, whenever the 
moon rises above the horizon. What I can certainly aver is, 
that when the water is quite tranquil, you can easily see it 
rise and fall with the course of the inoofi, although I do not 
deny that this movement may be caused by distant winds, 

1636, they are called Aweatsiwaenrrhonons, which, as the termination shows 
was their name among the Hurons. Charlevoix, on what ground I know not, 
calls* them Otchagras. As Marquette justly remarks, their name signified salt, 
rather than Fetid, and they are undoubtedly the Gens de mer discovered by the 
adventurous Nicolet three hundred leagues west of the Hurons, several years 
prior to his death, in 1642,— Eel. 1642-43, p. 8. Indeed, the dislike of the In¬ 
dians to salt was so great, that they confounded the two terms. When Father 
Le Moyne visited Onondaga, he heard of a spring in which there was a devil 
that made it fetid; it was, in fact, a salt spring. So too the accounts of the 
death of the heroic missionaries Brebeuf and Lalemant shows that the Iro¬ 
quois detected in the flesh of the latter, who had recently left European food, 
traces of salt which they disliked, and they showed their disgust in the additional 
torture they inflicted. All this establishes the identity of the terms fetid and 
salt, and confirms what is stated in the Relation of 1653-54, and by Bressani in 
his Breve Relatione, that the Winnebagoes were so called, because they came 
from the fetid water or ocean, which was then said to be nine days’ journey to 
the west. In point of fact, the Winnebagoes are a branch of the Dahcota family, 
which advancing further east than the rest, became cut off from them and sur¬ 
rounded by Algonquins. Hence, the very name comes in to confirm the philo¬ 
logical researches which connect them with the Tartars. The bay called 
formerly Baie des Puants, or La Grande Baie, has now become Green Bay, and 
the town of that name is near the site of the old mission of St. Francis Xavier, 
founded in 1670. 


12 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

which pressing on the centre of the lake, make it rise and fall 
on the shore in the way that meets our eyes.* 

We left this bay to enter a riverf emptying into it. It is 
very beautiful at its mouth, and flows gently; it is full of 
bustards, duck, teal, and other birds, attracted by the wild 
oats of which they are very fond ; but when you have ad¬ 
vanced a little up this river, it becomes very difficult, both 
on account of the currents and of the sharp rocks which cut 
the canoes and the feet of those who are obliged to drag 
them, especially when the water is low. For all that we 
passed the rapids safely, and as we approached Machkoutens, 
the Fire nation, I had the curiosity to drink the mineral 
waters of the river which is not far from this town. I also 
took time to examine an herb, the virtue of which an Indian, 
who possessed the secret, had, with many ceremonies, made 
known to Father Alloues. Its root is useful against the 

O 

bite of serpents, the Almighty having been pleased to give 
this remedy against a poison very common in the country. 
It is very hot, and has the taste of powder when crushed be¬ 
tween the teeth. It must be chewed and put on the bite 
of the serpent. Snakes have such an antipathy to it, that 
they fly from one rubbed with it. It produces several stalks 
about a foot long, with pretty long leaves, and a white 
flower, much like the gillyflower.;); I put some into my 

* The last opinion now prevails, and the tides of the lake which have been so 
much discussed, are now ascribed to the action of the winds, although Charle¬ 
voix supposed it was owing to the springs at the bottom of the lakes, and to the 
shock of their currents, with those of the rivers, which fall into them from all 
sides, and thus produce those intermitting motions. 

\ The Fox river, of Green bay, is about 260 miles in length. The portage 
between the head waters of this river and the Wisconsin (Meskonsing), is over a 
level plain, and during high water, canoes frequently pass over the lowest parts 
of the prairie from one river to the other.—F. 

^ This plant is called by the French “ Serpent-a-Sonnettes,” and is an infal¬ 
lible remedy against the poison of snakes. The root is commonly reduced to a 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


13 


canoe to examine it at leisure, while we kept on our way to¬ 
ward Maskoutens, where we arrived oil the 7 th of June. 


SECTION III. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE VILLAGE OF MASKOUTENS.— WHAT TRANSPIRED BE¬ 
TWEEN THE FATHER AND THE INDIANS.—THE FRENCH BEGIN TO ENTER A 
NEW AND UNKNOWN COUNTRY, AND REACH THE MISSISIPI. 

Here we are then at Maskoutens. This word in Algon¬ 
quin, may mean Fire nation,* and that is the name given to 
them. .This is the limit of the discoveries made by the 
French, for they have not yet passed beyond it. 

This town is made up of three nations gathered here, Mi- 
amis, Maskoutens, and Kikabous. The first are more civil, 
liberal, and better made; they wear two long ear-locks, 
which give them a good appearance; they have the name of 
being warriors and seldom send out war parties in vain; they 


powder, which the Indians chew, or make a poultice of, which prevents the poison 
from taking effect It may be taken in water with the same effect. It has a 
nauseous smell, and is always avoided by snakes. If two or three drops are 
put into a snake’s mouth, it immediately dies.—F. 

* Father Marquette who was a good Algonquin scholar, does not speak posi¬ 
tively as to the meaning of Maskoutens, though from his use of the common 
interpretation, he evidently favored it. Charlevoix, indeed, treats this as an 
error, and says, that Mascoutenec means a prairie, but on the meaning of an In¬ 
dian name a traveller is more apt to err than one habituated to the country and 
its dialects. Certain it is that, from the earliest times, there dwelt on Lake 
Michigan a tribe known to the Indians of Canada by the name of Fire Indians. 
Their Huron name was Asistagueronons, from asista (fire). They lay beyond the 
Puants, says the early historian, Brother Sagard (p. 201). Under the same 
name, Atsistaehronons, they are mentioned by Father Brebeuf (Rel. 1640-’41, 
p. 48,) as the enemies of the tribes called by the French the Neutral Nation, who 
lay chiefly north of Lake Erie, between Ontario and Lake St. Clair, bow as the 
peninsula between Detroit and Lake Michigan was not inhabited by any Indian 
tribe, the Assistae must have dwelt beyond Lake Michigan, in the territory 
where we afterward find a tribe called by the Algonquins, Maskoutench, or 
Nation of Fire. 



14 


NAEEATIVE OF FATHEE MAEQUETTE. 


are very docile, listen quietly to what you tell them, and 
showed themselves so eager to hear Father Allouez when he 
was instructing them, that they gave him little rest, even at 
night. The Maskoutens and Kikabous are ruder and more 
like peasants, compared to the others. 

As bark for cabins is rare in this country, they use rushes, 
which serve them for walls and roof, but which are no great 
shelter against the wind, and still less against the rain when 
it falls in torrents. The advantage of this kind of cabins is 
that they can roll them up, and carry them easily where they 
like in hunting-time. 

When I visited them, I was extremely consoled to see a 
beautiful cross planted in the midst of the town, adorned 
with several white skins, red belts, bows and arrows, which 
these good people had offered to the Great Manitou (such is 
the name they give to God) to thank him for having had 
pity on them during the winfer, giving them plenty of game 
when they were in greatest dread of famine. 

I felt no little pleasure in beholding the position of this 
town; the view is beautiful and very picturesque, for from 
the eminence on which it is perched, the eye discovers on 
every side prairies spreading away beyond its reach, inter¬ 
spersed with thickets or groves of lofty trees.* The soil is 
very good, producing much corn; the Indians gather also 
quantities of plums and grapes, from which good wine could 
be made, if they chose. 

Ho sooner had we arrived that M. Jollyet and I assembled the 
sachems; he told them that he was sent by our governor to dis¬ 
cover new countries, and I, by the Almighty, to illumine them 
with the light of the gospel ;f that the Sovereign Master of our 

* This narrative abounds with sketches of scenery and Indian localities that 
would grace the artist’s pencil.—F. 

f The missionaries were careful to avoid all appearance of a worldly or na- 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


15 


lives wished to be known by all nations, and that to obey his 
will, I did not fear death, to which I exposed myself in such 
dangerous voyages; that we needed two guides to put us on 
our way, these, making them a present, we begged them to 
grant us. This they did very civilly, and even proceeded to 
speak to us by a present, which was a mat to serve us as a 
bed on our voyage. 

The next day, which was the tenth of June, two Miamis 
whom they had given us as guides, embarked with us, in the 
sight of a great crowd, who could wonder enough to see 
seven Frenchmen alone in two canoes, dare to undertake so 
strange and so hazardous an expedition. 

We knew that there was, three leagues from Maskoutens, a 
river emptying into the* Missisipi; we knew too, that the point 
of the compass we were to hold to reach it, was the west-south¬ 
west ; but the way is so cut up by marshes and little lakes, 
that it is easy to go astray, especially as the river leading 
to it is so covered with wild oats, that you can hardly discover 
the channel. Hence, we had good need of our two guides, 
who led us safely to a portage of twenty-seven hundred paces, 
and helped us to transport our canoes to enter this river, 
after which they returned, leaving us alone in an unknown 
country, in the hands of Providence. 

We now leave the waters which flow to Quebec, a distance 
of four or five hundred leagues, to follow those which will 
henceforth lead us into strange lands. Before embarking, we 
all began together a new devotion to the Blessed Virgin Im¬ 
maculate, which we practised every day, addressing her par- 

tional mission. Most of those in our northern parts were French; but though 
they planted the cross on many a mountain and valley, history can not tell us 
the place where they carved the “Lilies of the Bourbons.” In fact, they never 
did. 

* Father Marquette, however, never uses the article with Missisipi, Pekita- 
noui, and other names of rivers. 


16 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


ticular prayers to put under her protection both onr persons 
and the success of our voyage. Then after having en¬ 
couraged one another, we got into our canoes. The river on 
which we embarked is called Meskousing ; it is very broad, 
with a sandy bottom, forming many shallows, which render 
navigation very difficult. It is full of vine-clad islets. On the 
banks appear fertile lands diversified with wood, prairie, and 
hill. Here you find oaks, walnut, white wood, and another 
kind of tree with branches armed with long thorns. We saw 
no small game or fish, but deer and moose* in considerable 
numbers. 

Our route was southwest, and after sailing about thirty 
leagues, we perceived a place which had all the appearances 
of an iron mine, and in fact, one of our party who had seen 
some before, averred that the one we had found was very 
good and very rich. It is covered with three feet of good 
earth, very near a chain of rock, whose base is covered with 
fine timber. After forty leagues on this same route, we 
reached the mouth of our river, and finding ourselves at 42-b° 
H., we safely entered the Missisipif on the 17th of June, with 
a joy that I can not express. 

* The French word here is vaches, which has been generally translated bison, or 
buffalo. This is clearly a mistake; they had not yet reached the buffalo ground 
and the missionary afterward describes the animal when he meets it. The 
animal called by the Canadian French, vache sauvage , was the American elk, or 
moose.— Rel. 1656-57. Boucher , Hist. Nat. Canada. — Nat. Hist, of N. Y., Art. 
“Moose.” Boucher expressly states, that buffaloes were found only in the 
Ottawa country, that is, in the far west, while the vache sauvage , or orignal, and 
ane sauvage , or caribou, were seen in Canada. 

f This latitude is nearly correct. Prairie du Chien is in north latitude 43° 3'. 
The mouth of the Wisconsin or, as he writes it, Meskousing, is distant one 
hundred and eighty miles from the portage. Above this it can be ascended ninety 
miles, and is then connected by short portages with the Ontonagon and Mon¬ 
treal rivers of Lake Superior. The Wisconsin country was subsequently in¬ 
habited by the Sacs and Foxes, but they were afterward driven away by the 
Chippeways and French.—F. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


IT 


SECTION IV. 

OF THE GREAT RIVER CALLED MISSISIPI.-ITS MOST STRIKING PECULIARI¬ 
TIES. — VARIOUS ANIMALS, AND PARTICULARLY THE PISIKIOUS OR WILD 
CATTLE.—THEIR FORM AND DISPOSITION.—THE FIRST IL1N0IS VILLAGES 
REACHED BY THE FRENCH. 

Here then we are on this renowned river, of which I 
have endeavored to remark attentively all the peculiarities. 
The Missisipi river has its source in several lakes* in the 
country of the nations to the north; it is narrow at the mouth 
of the Miskousing; its current, which runs south, is slow and 
gentle ; on the right is a considerable chain of very high mount¬ 
ains, and on the left fine lands; it is in many places studded 
with islands. On sounding, we have found ten fathoms of 
water. Its breadth is very unequal: it is sometimes three 
quarters of a league, and sometimes narrows in to three rnyents 
(220 yards). We gently follow its course, which bears south 
and southeast till the forty-second degree. Here we perceive 
that the whole face is changed ; there is now almost no wood 
or mountain, the islands are more beautiful and covered with- 
finer trees; we see nothing but deer and moose, bustards and 
wingless swans, for they shed their plumes in this country. 
From time to time we meet monstrous fish, one of which 
struck so violently against our canoe, that I took it for a large 
tree about to knock us to pieces.f Another time we per¬ 
ceived on the water a monster with the head of a tiger, a 
pointed snout like a wild-cat’s, a beard and ears erect, a 

* It would appear from this remark, that the source of the Mississippi river 
which is now ascertained to be in Itasca lake, and more than three thousand 
miles from the gulf of Mexico, was then perfectly well-known to the north¬ 
western tribes.—F. 

f This was probably the cat fish of the Mississippi (Silurus Mississippiensis). 
They sometimes grow enormously large, and strike with great force any object 
that comes in their way. —F. 


2 


18 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


grayish head and neck all black.* We saw no more of them. 
On casting onr nets, we have taken sturgeon and a very extra¬ 
ordinary kind of fish ;f it resembles a trout with this differ¬ 
ence, that it has a larger mouth, but smaller eyes and snout. 
Near the latter is a large bone, like a woman’s busk, three 
fingers wide, and a cubit long; the end is circular and as 
wide as the hand. In leaping out of the water the weight of 
this often throws it back. 

Having descended as far as 41° 28', following the same 
direction, we find that turkeys have taken the place of game, 
and the pisikious4 or wild cattle, that of other beasts. ¥e 

* Probably an American tiger-cat, the “pichou du sud ” of Kalm. They differ 
from those of Africa and South America, because they have no spots.—F. 

f The “polyodon spatula ” of Linn. It is now very rare, and but seldom found 
in the Mississippi. It is also called by the French, “/<? spatule” —F. 

% This animal was first made known by Coronado’s expedition to Cibola, in 
1540. That commander proceeded as far as the Rio Grande from the gulf of 
California, in search of the realms of Quivira. His greatest discovery was that 
of the bison plains, and this peculiarly American animal. From the first object 
of his expedition Cibola, a town on the Gila, the animal received among Span¬ 
ish writers the same name. Boucher, in his natural history of Canada, calls it 
the buffalo, and Father Marquette, who was the first Frenchman to reach the 
bison range, gives here its Indian name pisikiou, but I do not find that the name 
was ever adopted. The term wild-cattle, bceufs sauvagcs , was generally used 
by the French, as buffalo, was later by the English settlers, till the term bison, 
used by Pliny, was applied exclusively to this species. The buffalo has a clumsy 
gait like the domestic ox. Unlike the ox, however, it exhibits no diversity of 
f?olor, being a uniform dark brown, inclining to dun. It is never spotted with 
black, red, or white. It has short, black horns, growing nearly straight from 
the head, and set at a considerable distance apart. The male has a hunch upon 
its shoulders covered with long flocks of shaggy hair, extending to the top of the 
head from which it falls over the eyes and horns, giving him a very formida¬ 
ble appearance. The hoofs are cloven like those of the cow. The tail is naked, 
toward the end, where it is tufted, in the manner of the lion. The Indians employ 
both the rifle and the arrow to hunt it, and in the prairies of Missouri and Arkan¬ 
sas, they pursue them on horseback; but on the upper Mississippi, where they are 
destitute of horses, they make use of several ingenious stratagems. One of the 
most common of these, is the method of hunting them with fire. The buffaloes 
have a great dread of fire, and retire toward the centre of the prairie as they see it 
approach, then being pressed together in great numbers, the Indians rush in 
with their arrows and musketry, and slaughter immense numbers in a few 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


19 


call them wild cattle, because they are like our domestic 
cattle; they are not longer, but almost as big again, and more 
corpulent; our men having killed one, three of us had con¬ 
siderable trouble in moving it. The head is very large, the 
forehead flat and a foot and a half broad between the horns, 
which are exactly like those of our cattle, except that they are 
black and much larger. Under the neck there is a kind of 
large crop hanging down, and on the back a pretty high 
hump. The whole head, the neck, and part of the shoulders, 
are covered with a great mane like a horse’s; it is a crest a 
foot long, which renders them hideous, and falling over their 
eyes, prevents their seeing before them. The rest of the 
body is covered with a coarse curly hair like the wool of our 
sheep, but much stronger and thicker. It falls in summer, 
and the skin is then as soft as velvet. At this time the Indians 
employ the skins to make beautiful robes, which they paint 
of various colors; the flesh and fat of the Pisikious are excel¬ 
lent, and constitute the best dish in banquets. They are 
very fierce, and not a year passes without their killing some 
Indian. When attacked, they take a man with their horns, 
if they can, lift him up, and then dash him on the ground, 
trample on him, and kill him. When you fire at them from 
a distance with gun or bow, you must throw yourself on 
the ground as soon as you fire, and hide in the grass; for, if 
they perceive the one who fired, they rush on him and attack 
him. As their feet are large and rather short, they do not 


hours. Few animals of the American forest contribute more to the comforts 
of savage life. The skin is dressed to supply them with clothing and blankets, 
The tallow is an article of commerce. The tongue is a delicate article of food, 
and the flesh, when dried after their manner, serves them for bread and meat. 
The buffalo is generally found between 31° and 49° north latitude, and west 
of the Mississippi. South of 31° north latitude, the buffalo is not found ; but its 
place is supplied in Mexico by the wild-ox, without a hunch, which is considered 
of European origin. 


20 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


generally go very fast, except when they are irritated. They 
are scattered over the prairies like herds of cattle. I have 
seen a band of four hundred. 

We advanced constantly, but as we did not know where we 
were going, having already made more than a hundred 
leagues without having discovered anything but beasts and 
birds, we kept well on our guard. Accordingly we make 
only a little fire on the shore at night to prepare our meal, 
and after supper keep as far off from it as possible, passing 
the night in our canoes, which we anchor in the river pretty 
far from the bank. Even this did not prevent one of us being 
always as a sentinel for fear of a surprise. 

Proceeding south and south-southwest, we find ourselves at 
41° north ; then at 40° and some minutes, partly by southeast 
and partly by southwest, after having advanced more than 
sixty leagues since entering the river, without discovering 
anything. 

At last, on the 25th of June, we perceived footprints of men 
by the water-side, and a beaten path entering a beautiful 
prairie. We stopped to examine it, and concluding that it 
was a path leading to some Indian village, we resolved to go 
and reconnoitre ; we accordingly left our two canoes in charge 
of our people, cautioning them strictly to beware of a surprise; 
then M. Jollyet and I undertook this rather hazardous dis¬ 
covery for two single men, who thus put themselves at the 
discretion of an unknown and barbarous people. We followed 
the little path in silence, and having advanced about two 
leagues, we discovered a village on the banks of the river, 
and two others on a hill, half a league from the former.* 

* These villages are laid down on the map on the westerly side of the Missis¬ 
sippi, and the names of two are given, Peouarea and Moingwena, whence it is 
generally supposed that the river on which they lay, is that now called the Des- 
moines. The upper part of that river still bears the name Moingonan, while the 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


21 


Then, indeed, we recommended ourselves to God, with all 
our hearts; and, having implored his help, we passed on un¬ 
discovered, and came so near that we even heard the Indians 
talking. We then deemed it time to announce ourselves, as 

I 

we did by a cry, which we raised with all our strength, and 
then halted without advancing any further. At this cry the 
Indians rushed out of their cabins, and having probably 
recognised us as French, especially seeing a black gown,* 
or at least having no reason to distrust us, seeing we were but 
two, and had made known our coming, they deputed four old 
men to come and speak with us. Two carried tobacco-pipes 
well-adorned, and trimmed with many kinds of feathers. 
They marched slowly, lifting their pipes toward the sun, as if 
offering them to him to smoke, but yet without uttering a 
single word. They were a long time coming the little way 
from the village to us. Having reached us at last, they 
stopped to consider us attentively. I now took courage, see¬ 
ing these ceremonies, which are used by them only with 
friends, and still more on seeing them covered with stuffs, 
which made me judge them to be allies. I, therefore, spoke 
to them first, and asked them, who they were; u they an¬ 
swered that they were Ilinois and, in token of peace, they 
presented their pipes to smoke. They then invited us to their 
village where all the tribe awaited us with impatience. These 
pipes for smoking are called in the country calumets,f a word 
that is so much in use, that I shall be obliged to employ it in 
order to be understood, as I shall have to speak of it frequently. 

latitude of the mouth seems to establish the identity. It must, however, be ad¬ 
mitted that the latitude given at that day differs from ours generally from 30' to 
a degree, as we see in the case of the Wisconsin and Ohio. This would throw 
Moingwena somewhat higher up. 

* This is the well-known Indian name for the Jesuits. 

f We are probably indebted to Father Marquette for the addition to our 
language of this word. 


22 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


SECTION V. 

HOW THE ILINOIS RECEIVED THE FATHER IN THEIR VILLAGE. 

At the door of the cabin in which we were to be received, 
was an old man awaiting us in a very remarkable posture; 
which is their usual ceremony in receiving strangers. This 
man was standing, perfectly naked, with his hands stretched 
out and raised toward the sun, as if he wished to screen him¬ 
self from its rays, which nevertheless passed through his 
fingers to his face. When we came near him, he paid us 
this compliment: “How beautiful is the sun, O Frenchman, 
when thou cornest to visit us! All our town awaits thee, and 
thou shalt enter all our cabins in peace.” He then took us 
into his, where there was a crowd of people, who devoured 
us with their eyes, but kept a profound silence. We heard, 
however, these words occasionally addressed to us: “Well 
done, brothers, to visit us!” 

As soon as we had taken our places, they showed us the 
usual civility of the country, which is to present the calumet. 
You must not refuse it, unless you would pass for an enemy, 
or at least for being impolite. It is, however, enough to pre¬ 
tend to smoke. While all the old men smoked after us to 
honor us, some came to invite us on behalf of the great sa¬ 
chem of all the Ilinois to proceed to his town, where he 
wished to hold a council with us. We went with a good 
retinue, for all the people who had never seen a Frenchman 
among them could not tire looking at us : they threw them¬ 
selves on the grass by the wayside, they ran ahead, then 
turned and walked back to see us again. All this w r as done 
without noise, and with marks of a great respect entertained 
for us. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


23 


Having arrived at tlie great sachem’s town, we espied him 
at his cabin-door, between two old men, all three standing 
naked, with their calumet turned to the sun. lie harangued 
us in few words, to congratulate us on our arrival, and then 
presented us his calumet and made us smoke; at the same 
time we entered his cabin, where we received all their usual 
greetings. Seeing all assembled and in silence, I spoke to 
them by four presents which I made: by the first, I said that 
we marched in peace to visit the nations on the river to the 
sea: by the second, I declared to them that God their Crea¬ 
tor had pity on them, since, after their having been so long 
ignorant of him, he wished to become known to all nations; 
that I was sent on his behalf with this design; that it was for 
them to acknowledge and obey him: by the third, that the 
great chief of the French informed them that he spread peace 
everywhere, and had overcome the Iroquois. Lastly, by the 
fourth, we begged them to give us all the information they 
had of the sea, and of the nations through which we should 
have to pass to reach it. 

When I had finished my speech, the sachem rose, and lay¬ 
ing his hand on the head of a little slave, whom he was about 
to give us, spoke thus : “ I thank thee, Blackgown, and thee, 
Frenchman,” addressing M. Jollyet, “ for taking so much pains 
to come and visit us; never has the earth been so beautiful, 
nor the sun so bright, as to-day; never has our river been so 
calm, nor so free from rocks, which your canoes have re¬ 
moved as they passed ; never has our tobacco had so fine a 
flavor, nor our corn appeared so beautiful as we behold it to¬ 
day. Here is my son, that I give thee, that thou mayst know 
my heart. I pray thee to take pity on me and all my nation. 
Thou lniowest the Great Spirit who has made us all; thou 
speakest to him and hearest his word: ask him to give me. 


24 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


life and health, and come and dwell with us, that we may 
know him.” Saying this, he placed the little slave near us 
and made us a second present, an all-mysterious calumet, 
which they value more than a slave; by this present he 
showed us his esteem for our governor, after the account we 
had given of him; by the third, he begged us, on behalf of 
his whole nation, not to proceed further, on account of the 
great dangers to which we exposed ourselves. 

I replied, that I did not fear death, and that I esteemed no 
happiness greater than that of losing my life for the glory of 
Him who made all. But this these poor people could not 
understand. 

The council was followed by a great feast which consisted 
of four courses, which we had to take with all their ways; 
the first course was a great wooden dish full of sagamity, that 
is to say, of Indian meal boiled in water and seasoned with 
grease. The master of ceremonies, with a spoonful of sa¬ 
gamity, presented it three or four times to my mouth, as we 
would do with a little child ; he did the same to M. Jollyet. 
For the second course, he brought in a second dish contain¬ 
ing three fish; he took some pains to remove the bones, and 
having blown upon it to cool it, put it in my mouth, as we 
would food to a bird; for the third course, they produced a 
large dog* which they had just killed, but learning that we 
did not eat it, it was withdrawn. Finally, the fourth course 
was a piece of wild ox, the fattest portions of which were put 
into our mouths. 

After this feast we had to visit the whole village, which 

* The dog among all Indian tribes is more valued and more esteemed than 
by any people of the civilized world. When they are killed for a feast, it is 
considered a great compliment, and the highest mark of friendship. If an 
Indian sees fit to sacrifice his faithful companion to give to his friend, it is to 
remind him of the solemnity of his professions.—F. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 25 

consists of full three hundred cabins. WTile we inarched 
through the streets, an orator was constantly haranguing, to 
oblige all to see us without being troublesome j we were 
everywhere presented with belts, garters, and other articles 
made of the hair of the bear and wild cattle, dyed red, yellow, 
and gray. These are their rare ties; but not being of conse¬ 
quence, we did not burthen ourselves with them. 

We slept in the sachem’s cabin, and the next day took 
leave of him, promising to pass back through his town in four 
moons. He escorted us to our canoes with nearly six hundred 
persons, who saw us embark, evincing in every possible way 
the pleasure our visit had given them. On taking leave, I 
personally promised that I would return the next year to stay 
with them, and instruct them. But before leaving the Ilinois 
country, it will be well to relate what I remarked of their 
customs and manners. 


SECTION VI. 

CHARACTER OF THE ILINOIS.—THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.—THEIR ES¬ 
TEEM OF THE CALUMET , OR TOBACCO-PIPE, AND THEIR DANCE IN ITS 
HONOR. 

To say Ilinois is, in their language, to say “ the men,” as 
if other Indians compared to them were mere beasts. And 
it must be admitted that they have an air of humanity* that 

* “The Ilinois,” as described by Father Marest in a letter to Father Ger- 
raon, from the village “of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, Cas- 
casquias, November 9, 1712,” “are much less barbarous than the other Indians. 
Christianity, and their intercourse with the French, have by degrees somewhat 
civilized them. This is particularly remarked in our village, of which the inhab¬ 
itants are almost all Christians, and has brought many French to establish them¬ 
selves here, three of whom we have recently married to Ilinois women. These 
Indians are not at all wanting in wit; they are naturally curious, and are able 
to use raillery in a very ingenious way. The chase and war are the sole occupa- 



26 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


we had not remarked in the other nations that we had seen 
on the way. The short stay I made with them did not permit 

tions of the men, while the rest of the labor falls upon the women and girls. They 
are the persons who prepare the ground for sowing, do the cooking, pound the 
corn, build the wigwams, and carry them on their shoulders in their journeys. 
These wigwams are constructed of mats made of platted reeds, which they have 
the skill to sew together in such a way that the rain can not penetrate them 
when they are new. Besides these things, they occupy themselves in manufac¬ 
turing articles from buffaloes’ hair, and in making bands, belts, and sacks; for 
the buffaloes here are very different from our cattle in Europe. Besides having 
a large hump on the back by the shoulders, they are also entirely covered with 
a fine wool, which our Indians manufacture instead of that which they would 
procure from sheep, if they had them in the country. 

“The women, thus occupied and depressed by their daily toils, are more do¬ 
cile to the truths of the gospel. This, however, is not the case at the lower end 
of the Missisipi, where the idleness which prevails among persons of that sex 
gives opportunity for the most fearful disorders, and removes them entirely from 
the way of safety. 

“ It would be difficult to say what is the religion of our Indians. It consists 
entirely in some superstitions with which their credulity is amused. As all their 
knowledge is limited to an acquaintance with brutes, and to the necessities of 
life, it is to these things also that all their worship is confined. Their medicine¬ 
men, who have a little more intellect than the rest, gain their respect by their 
ability to deceive them. They persuade them that they honor a kind of spirit, 
to whom they give the name of Manitou, and teach them that it is this spirit 
which governs all things, and is master of life and of death. A bird, a buffalo, 
a bear, or rather the plumage of these birds, and the skin of these beasts — such 
is their manitou. They hang it up in their wigwams, and offer to it sacrifices 
of dogs and other animals. 

“The braves carry their manitous in a mat, and unceasingly invoke them to 
obtain the victory over their enemies. Their medicine-men have in like manner 
recourse to their manitous when they compose their remedies, or when they 
attempt to cure the diseased. They accompany their invocations with chants, 
and dances, and frightful contortions, to induce the belief that they are inspired 
by their manitous; and at the same time they thus aggravate their diseases, so 
that they often cause death. During these different contortions, the medicine¬ 
man names sometimes one animal, and sometimes another, and at last applies 
himself to suck that part of the body in which the sick person perceives the pain. 
After having done so for some time, he suddenly raises himself and throws out 
to him the tooth of a bear, or of some other animal, which he had kept concealed 
in his mouth. ‘Dear friend,’ he cries, ‘you will live. See what it was that was 
killing you!’ After which he says, in applauding himself: ‘Who can resist my 
manitou ? Is he not the one who is the master of life ?’ If the patient happens 
to die, he immediately has some deceit ready prepared, to ascribe the death to 
some other cause which took place after he had left the sick man. But ifj on 


DISCOVERIES IN TIIE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 27 

me to acquire all the information I would have desired. The 
following is what I remarked in their manners. 

the contrary, he should recover his health, it is then that the medicine-man re¬ 
ceives consideration, and is himself regarded as a manitou; and after having 
well rewarded his labors, they procure the best that the village produces to 
regale him. 

“ The influence which these kinds of jugglers have places a great obstacle in 
the way of the conversion of the Indians. By embracing Christianity, they ex¬ 
pose themselves to their insults and violence. It is only a month ago that a 
young Christian girl experienced this treatment. Holding a rosary in her hand, 
she was passing before the wigwam of one of these impostors. He had imagined 
that the sight of a similar chaplet had caused the death of his father; and be¬ 
ing transported with fury, he took his gun, and was on the point of firing at 
this poor neophyte, when he was arrested by some Indians who happened to be 
present 

“ I can not tell you how many times I have received the like insults from 
them, nor how many times I should have expired under their blows, had it not 
been for the particular protection of God, who has preserved me from their fury. 
On one occasion, among others, one of them would have split my head with his 
hatchet, had I not turned at the very time that his arm was raised to strike me. 
Thanks to God, our village is now purged from these impostors. The care which 
we have ourselves taken of the sick, the remedies we have given them, and 
which have generally produced a cure, have destroyed the credit and reputation 
of these medicine-men, and forced them to go and establish themselves else¬ 
where. 

“There are, however, some among them who are not so entirely brutal, and 
with whom we can sometimes talk, and endeavor to disabuse them of the vain 
confidence they have in their manitous; but it is not ordinarily with much suc¬ 
cess. A conversation which one of our fathers had with one of these medicine¬ 
men will enable you to understand the extent of their obstinacy on this point, 
and also what ought to be the condescension of a missionary in attempting even 
to refute opinions as extraordinary as those with which they are here met. 

“The French had established a fort on the river Ouabache: they asked for a 
missionary, and Father Mermet was sent to them. This father thought that 
he should also labor for the conversion of the Mascoutens, who had formed a 
settlement on the banks of the same river, a tribe of Indians who understood the 
Ilinois language, but whose extreme attachment to the superstitions of their 
medicine-men rendered them exceedingly indisposed to listen to the instructions 
of the missionary. 

“The course which Father Mermet took was, to confound in their presence 
one of their medicine-mcn, who worshipped the buffalo as his grand manitou. 
After having insensibly led him to confess that it was not by any means the buf¬ 
falo which he worshipped, but a manitou of the buffalo, which is under the earth 
—which animates all the buffaloes, and which gives life to their sick — he asked 
him whether the other beasts, as the bears, for example, which his comrades 
worshipped, were not equally animated by a manitou which is under the earth. 


28 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


They are divided into several villages, some of which are 
quite distant from that of which I speak, and which is called 

‘Certainly,’replied the medicine-man. ‘But if this be so,’said the missionary, 
‘then men ought also to have a manitou which animates them.’ — ‘Nothing can 
be more certain,’ said the medicine-man. ‘That is sufficient for me,’ replied the 
missionary, ‘to convict you of having but little reason on your side; for if man 
who is on the earth be the master of all the animals — if he kills them, if he eats 
them—then it is neeessarv that the manitou which animates the men should 

4 / 

also be the master of all the other manitous. "Where is, then, your wisdom, that 
you do not invoke him who is the master of all the others?’ This reasoning 
disconcerted the medicine-man, but this was the only effect which it produced, 
for they were not less attached than before to their ridiculous superstitions. 

“At that same time a contagious disease desolated their village, and each day 
carried off many of the Indians: the medicine-men themselves were not spared, 
and died like the rest. The missionary thought that he would be able to win 
their confidence by his attention to the care of the sick, and therefore applied 
himself to it without intermission; but his zeal very often came near costing him 
his life. The services which he rendered to them were repaid only by outrages. 
There were even some who proceeded to the extremity of discharging their ar¬ 
rows at him, but they fell at his feet; it may be that they were fired by hands 
which were too feeble, or because God, who destined the missionary for other 
labors, had wished to withdraw him at that time from their fury. Father Mer- 
met, however, was not deterred from conferring baptism on some of the Indians, 
who requested it with importunity, and who died a short time after they had 
received it. 

“Nevertheless, their medicine-men removed to a short distance from the fort, 
to make a great sacrifice to their manitou. They killed nearly forty dogs, which 
they carried on the tops of poles, singing, dancing, and making a thousand ex¬ 
travagant gestures. The mortality, however, did not cease, for all their sacri¬ 
fices. The chief of the medicine-men then imagined that their manitou, being 
less powerful than the manitou of the French, was obliged to yield to him. In 
this persuasion he many times made a circuit around the fort, crying out with 
all his strength: ‘We are dead; softly, manitou of the French, strike softly— 
do not kill us all!’ Then, addressing himself to the missionary: ‘Cease, good 
manitou, let us live; you have life and death in your possession: leave death — 
give us life!’ The missionary calmed him, and promised to take even more care 
of the sick than he had hitherto done; but notwithstanding all the care he could 
bestow, more than half in the village died. 

“To return to our Ilinois: they are very different from these Indians, and also 
from what they formerly were themselves. Christianity, as I have already said, 
has softened their savage customs, and their manners are now marked by a 
sweetness and purity which have induced some of the French to take their 
daughters in marriage. We find in them, moreover, a docility and ardor for the 
practice of Christian virtues. The following is the order we observe each dav 
in our mission: Early in the morning we assemble the catechumens at the 
church, where they have prayers, they receive instructions, and chant some can- 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


29 


Peouarea. This produces a diversity in their language which 
in general has a great affinity to the Algonquin, so that we 

tides. When they have retired, mass is said, at which all the Christians assist, 
the men placed on one side and the women on the other; then they have pray¬ 
ers, which are followed by giving them a homily, after which eacli one goes to his 
labor. We then spend our time in visiting the sick, to give them the necessary 
remedies, to instruct them, and to console those who are laboring under any 
affliction. 

“After noon the catechising is held, at which all are present, Christians and 
catechumens, men and children, young and old, and where each, without dis¬ 
tinction of rank or age, answers the questions put by the missionary. As these 
people have no books, and are naturally indolent, they would shortly forget the 
principles of religion if the remembrance of them was not recalled by these 
almost continual instructions. Our visits to their wigwams occupy the rest of 
the day. 

“ In the evening, all assemble again at the church, to listen to the instructions 
which are given, to say prayers, and to sing some hymns. On Sundays and 
festivals we add to the ordinary exorcises, instructions which are given after 
the vespers. The zeal with which these good neophytes repair to the church at 
all such hours is admirable: they break off from their labors, and run from a 
great distance, to be there at the appointed time. They generally end the day 
by private meetings which they hold at their own residences, the men separately 
from the women, and there they recite the rosary in alternate choirs, and 
chant the hymns, until the night is far advanced. These hymns are their best 
instructions, which they retain the more easily, since the words are set to airs 
with which they are acquainted, and which please them. 

“They often approach the sacraments, and the custom among them is to con¬ 
fess and to communicate once in a fortnight. We have been obliged to appoint 
particular days on which they shall confess, or they would not leave us leisure 
to discharge our other duties. These are the Fridays and Sundays of each week, 
when we hear them, and on these days we are overwhelmed with a crowd of 
penitents. The care which we take of the sick gains us their confidence, and it 
is particularly at such times that we reap the fruits of our labors. Their docility 
is then perfect, and we have generally the consolation of seeing them die in 
great peace, and with the firm hope of being shortly united to God in heaven. 

“This mission owes its establishment to the late Father Gravier. Father 
Marquette was, in truth, the first who discovered the Missisipi, about thirty-nine 
years ago; but, not being acquainted with the language of the country, he did 
not remain. Some time afterward he made a second journey, with the intention 
of fixing there his residence, and laboring for the conversion of these people; 
but death, which arrested him on the way, left to another the care of accom¬ 
plishing this enterprise. This was Father Allouez, who charged himself with 
it. He was acquainted with the language of the Oumiamis, which approaches 
very nearly to that of the Ilinois. He, however, made but a short sojourn, hav¬ 
ing the idea while there that he should be able to accomplish more in a different 
country, where indeed he ended his apostolic life. 


30 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


easily understood one another. They are mild and tractable 
in their disposition, as we experienced in the reception they 

“Thus Father Gravier is the one who should properly be regarded as the 
founder of the mission to the Ilinois. He first investigated the principles of their 
language, and reduced them to grammatical rules, so that we have since only 
been obliged to bring to perfection what he began with so great success. This 
missionary had at first much to suffer from their medicine-men, and his life was 
exposed to continual dangers; but nothing repulsed him, and he surmounted all 
these obstacles by his patience and mildness. Being obliged to depart to Micli- 
ilimakinac, his mission was confided to Father Bineteau and Father Pinet. In 
company with these two missionaries I labored for some time, and after their 
death remained in sole charge of all the toilsome duties of the mission, until the 
arrival of Father Mermet. My residence was formerly in the great village of 
the Peouarias, where Father Gravier, who had returned thither for the second 
time, received a wound which caused his death. * * * 

“After having remained eight days at the mission of St. Joseph, I embarked 
with my brother in his canoe, to repair together to Michilimakinae. The voyage 
was very delightful to me, not only because I had the pleasure of being with a 
brother, who is very dear, but also because it afforded me an opportunity of 
profiting for a much longer time by his conversation and example. 

“It is, as I have said, more than a hundred leagues from the mission of St. 
Joseph to Michilimakinae. We go the whole length of Lake Michigan, which 
on the maps has the name, without any authority, of ‘the lake of the Ilinois,* 
since the Ilinois do not at all dwell in its neighborhood. The stormy weather 
delayed us, so that our voyage took seventeen days, though it is often accom¬ 
plished in less than eight. 

“Michilimakinae is situated between two great lakes, into which other lakes 
and many rivers empty. Therefore it is that this village is the ordinary resort 
of the French, the Indians, and almost all those engaged in the fur-trade of the 
country. The soil there is far inferior to that among the Ilinois. During the 
greater part of the year one sees nothing but fish, and the waters which are so 
agreeable during the summer render a residence there dull and wearisome du¬ 
ring the winter. The earth is entirely covered with snow from All-Saints’ day 
even to the month of May. 

“The character of these Indians partakes of that of the climate under which 
they live. It is harsh and indocile. Religion among them does not take deep 
root, as should be desired, and there are but few souls who from time to time 
give themselves truly to God, and console the missionary for all his pains. For 
myself. I could not but admire the patience with which my brother endured 
their failings, his sweetness under the trial of their caprices and their coarseness 
his diligence in visiting them, in teaching them, in arousing them from their in¬ 
dolence for the exercises of religion, his zeal and his love, capable of inflaming 
their hearts, if they had been less hard and more tractable; and I said to myself 
that ‘success is not always the recompense of the toils of apostolic men, nor the 
measure of their merit.’ 

“ Having finished all our business during the two months that I remained with 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


31 


gave hs. They have many wives, of whom they are ex¬ 
tremely jealous; they watch them carefully, and cut off their 

my brother, it became necessary for us to separate. As it was God who ordered 
this separation, he knew how to soften all its bitterness. I departed to rejoin 
Father Chardon, with whom I remained fifteen days, lie is a missionary full of 
zeal, and who has a rare talent for acquiring languages. lie is acquainted with 
almost all those of the Indians who are on these lakes, and has even learned 
that of the llinois sufficiently to make himself understood, although he has only 
seen some of those Indians accidentally, when they came to his village; for the 
Pouteautamis and the llinois live in terms of friendship, and visit each other 
from time to time. Their manners,however, are very different: those are brutal 
and gross, while these, on the contrary, are mild and affable. 

“After having taken leave of the missionary, we ascended the river St. Joseph 
to where it was necessary to make a portage, about thirty leagues from its mouth. 
The canoes which are used for navigation in this country are only of bark, and 
very light, although they carry as much as a large boat. When the canoe has 
carried us for a long time on the water, we in our turn carry it on the land, 
over to another river; and it was thus that we did in this place. We first trans¬ 
ported all there was in the canoe toward the source of the river of the llinois, 
which they call Haukiki; then we carried thither our canoe, and after having 
launched it, we embarked there to continue our route. We were but two days 
making this portage, which is one and a half leagues in length. The abundant 
rains which had fallen during this season had swelled our little rivers, and freed 
us from the currents which we feared. At last we perceived our own agreea¬ 
ble country, the wild buffaloes and herds of stags wandering on the borders 
of the river; and those who were in the canoe took some of them from time 
to time, which served for our food. 

“At the distance of some leagues from the village of the Peouarias, many of 
these Indians came to meet me, to form an escort to defend me from hostile par¬ 
ties of warriors who might be roaming through the forest; and when I ap¬ 
proached the village, they sent forward one of their number to give notice of 
my arrival. The greater part ascended to the fort, which is situated on a rock 
on the banks of the river, and, when I entered the village, made a general dis¬ 
charge of their guns in sign of rejoicing. Their joy was, indeed, pictured plainly 
on their countenances, and shone forth in my presence. I was invited, with the 
French and the llinois chiefs, to a feast which was given to us by the most dis¬ 
tinguished of the Peouarias. It was there that one of the principal chiefs ad¬ 
dressed me in the name of the nation, testifying to me the deep grief they felt 
at the unworthy manner in which they had treated Father Gravier, and conjured 
me to forget it, to have pity on them and their children, and to open to them 
the gate of heaven, which they had closed against themselves. 

“For myself, I returned thanks to God, from the bottom of my heart, that I 
thus saw that accomplished which I had desired with the utmost ardor. I an¬ 
swered them, in a few words, that I was touched with their repentance; that I 
always regarded them as my children; and that after having made a short ex¬ 
cursion to my mission, I should come to fix my residence in the midst of them, 


32 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


nose or ears when they do not behave well; I saw several who 
bore the marks of their infidelity. They are well-formed, nim¬ 
ble, and very adroit in using the bow and arrow; they use guns 
also, which they buy of our Indian allies who trade with the 
French ; they use them especially to terrify their enemies by 
the noise and smoke, the others lying too far to the west, have 
never seen them, and do not know their use. They are war¬ 
like and formidable to distant nations in the south and west, 
where they go to carry off slaves, whom they make an article 
of trade, selling them at a high price to other nations for 
goods.* 

The distant nations against whom they go to war, have no 
knowledge of Europeans; they are acquainted with neither 

to aid them by my instructions to return into the way of salvation, from which 
they had perhaps wandered. At these words the chief uttered a loud cry of joy, 
and each one with emulation testified his gratitude. During two days that I 
remained in the village, I said mass in public, and discharged all the duties of a 
missionary. 

“ It was toward the end of August that I embarked to return to my mission 
of the Cascasquias, distant a hundred and fifty leagues from the village of the 
Peouarias. During the first day of our departure, we found a canoe of the 
Scioux, broken in some places, which had drifted away, and we saw an encamp¬ 
ment of their warriors, where we judged by the view there were at least one 
hundred persons. We were justly alarmed, and on the point of returning to 
the village we had left, from which we were as yet but ten leagues’ distance. 

“These Scioux are the most cruel of all the Indians, and we should have been 
lost if we had fallen into their hands. They are great warriors, but it is princi¬ 
pally upon the water that they are formidable. They have only small canoes 
of bark, made in the form of a gondola, and scarcely larger than the body of a 
man, for they can not hold more than two or three at the most. They row on 
their knees, managing the oar now on one side and now on the other; that is, 
giving three or four strokes of the oar on the right side, and then as many on 
the left side, but with so much dexterity and swiftness, that their canoes seem to 
fly on the water. After having examined all things with attention, we con¬ 
cluded that these Indians had struck their intended blow, and were retiring: 
we, however, kept on our guard, and advanced with great caution, that we 
might not encounter them. But when we had once gained the Missisipi, we 
sped on by dint of rowing. At last, on the 10th of September, I arrived at my 
dear mission, in perfect health, after five months’ absence.”— Kip's Jesuit Miss. 

* It would appear from this remark, that a traffic in Indian slaves was carried 
on extensively at a very early period, by the aborigines of North America. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


33 


iron or copper, and have nothing hut stone knives. When 
the Ilinois set out on a war party, the whole village is noti¬ 
fied by a loud cry made at the door of their huts the morn¬ 
ing and evening before they set out. The chiefs are dis¬ 
tinguished from the soldiers by their wearing a scarf* inge¬ 
niously made of the hair of bears and wild oxen. The face 
is painted with red lead or ochre, which is found in great 
quantities a few days’ journey from their village.f They live 
by game, which is abundant in this country, and on Indian 
corn, of which they always gather a good crop, so that they 
have never suffered by famine. They also sow beans and 
melons, which are excellent, especially those with a red seed. 
Their squashes are not of the best; they dry them in the sun, 
to eat in the winter and spring. 

Their cabins are very large; they are lined and floored 
with rush-mats. They make all their dishes of wood, and 
their spoons of the bones of the buffalo, which they cut so 
well, that it serves them to eat their sagamity easily. 

They are liberal in their maladies, and believe that the 
medicines given them operate in proportion to the presents 
they have made the medicine-man. Their only clothes are 

* The scarf or belt has always formed a part of the costume of chiefs. Among 
the tribes of the west it is generally made of long hair braided in figures with 
shells, beads, <fcc. Belts of deer and buffalo skins are also worn. These belts 
are worn over the left shoulder, and passed around the waist, ending in a 
long fringe. In addition to the scarf, they likewise adorn themselves with arm, 
knee, and wrist bands; knee-rattles made of deer-hoofs, and arm themselves 
with the formidable bow and arrow, war-club, and scalping-knife.—F. 

f The custom of painting their bodies is characteristic of all savage tribes. The 
native Britons, Germans, and Scandinavians, formerly practised it. The savage 
tribes of North and South America continue the custom to the present day, with 
a view of rendering themselves more attractive to their friends, or more terrible 
to their enemies. The substances usually employed are ochres, clays, native 
oxydes of iron, and other minerals, the production of their country. When they 
go to war, they paint themselves red; when they mourn for their friends or rel¬ 
atives, with black; at other times they cover their face and body with a variety 
of fantastic colors, which they are very skilful in mixing.—F. 

3 


34 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


skins; their women are always dressed very modestly and 
decently, while the men do not take any pains to cover them¬ 
selves. Through what superstition I know not, some Ilinois, 
as well as some Nadouessi, while yet young, assume the fe¬ 
male dress, and keep it all their life. There is some mystery 
about it, for they never marry, and glory in debasing them¬ 
selves to do all that is done by women :* yet they go to war, 
though allowed to use only a club, and not the bow and ar¬ 
row, the peculiar arm of men; they are present at all the 
juggleries and solemn dances in honor of the calumet; they 
are permitted to sing, but not to dance; they attend the 
councils, and nothing can be decided without their advice; 
finally, by the profession of an extraordinary life, they pass 
for manitous (that is, for genii), or persons of consequence. 

It now only remains for me to speak of the calumet, than 
which there is nothing among them more mysterious or more 
esteemed. Men do not pay to the crowns and sceptres of 
kings the honor they pay to it: it seems to be the god of 
peace and war, the arbiter of life and death. Carry it about 
you and show it, and you can march fearlessly amid enemies, 
who even in the heat of battle lay down their arms when it is 
shown. Hence the Ilinois gave me one, to serve as my safe¬ 
guard amid all the nations that I had to pass on my voyage. 
There is a calumet for peace, and one for war, distinguished 
only by the color of the feathers with which they are adorned, 
red being the sign of war. They use them also for settling 
disputes, strengthening alliances, and speaking to strangers.f 

* Others represent this custom to have been to satisfy that unnatural lust 
which dishonored all paganism, from the vaunted Trajan to the lowest savage. 
See Hennepin’s account of this custom in his “Voyage en un pays plus grand 
que l’Europe entre mer glaciale, et le Nouveau Mexique.” 

f The calumet of peace is adorned with the feathers of the white eagle; and 
the bearer of it may go everywhere without fear, because it is held sacred by all 
tribes.—F. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 35 

It is made of a polished red stone, like marble, so pierced 
that one end serves to hold the tobacco, while the other is 
fastened on the stem, which is a stick two feet long, as thick 
as a common cane, and pierced in the middle; it is orna¬ 
mented with the head and neck cf different birds of beautiful 
plumage ; they also add large feathers of red, green, and 
other colors, with which it is all covered. They esteem it 
particularly because they regard it as the calumet of the sun; 
and, in fact, they present it to him to smoke when they wish 
to obtain calm, or rain, or fair weather. They scruple to 
bathe at the beginning of summer, or to eat new fruits, till 
they have danced it. They do it thus:— 

The calumet dance* which is very famous among these 
Indians, is performed only for important matters, sometimes 
to strengthen a peace or to assemble for some great war; at 
other times for a public rejoicing; sometimes they do this 
honor to a nation who is invited to be present; sometimes 
they use it to receive some important personage, as if they 
wished to give him the entertainment of a ball or comedy. 
In winter the ceremony is performed in a cabin, in summer 
in the open fields. They select a place, surrounded with 
trees, so as to be sheltered beneath their foliage against the 
heat of the sun. In the middle of the space they spread out 
a large party-colored mat of rushes; this serves as a carpet, 
on which to place with honor the god of the one who gives 
the dance; for every one has his own god, or manitouf as 

* Besides the calumet dance, these tribes have a great variety of other dances, 
wholly of their own invention. Twenty-one of these are still in use among the 
southwestern Indians, to each of which there is a history attached; and many 
of them, without doubt, have been handed down from generation to generation 
until their origin is even lost in tradition.— F. 

f Manitou is a word employed to signify the same thing by all Indians from 
the gulf of Mexico to the arctic regions. In the Indian language it signifies 
“spirit.” They have good and bad manitous, great and small manitous; a mani¬ 
tou for every cave, water-fall, or other commanding object in nature, and gene- 


36 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


they call it, which is a snake, a bird, or something of the 
kind, which they have dreamed in their sleep, and in which 
they put all their trust for the success of their wars, fishing, 
and hunts. Near this manitou and at its right, they put the 
calumet in honor of which the feast is given, making around 
about it a kind of trophy, spreading there the arms used by 
the warriors of these tribes, namely, the war-club, bow, hatchet, 
quiver, and arrows. 

Things being thus arranged, and the hour for dancing 
having arrived, those who are to sing take the most honorable 
place under the foliage. They are the men and the women 
who have the finest voices, and who accord perfectly. The 
spectators then come and take their places around under the 
branches; but each one on arriving must salute the manitou, 
which he does by inhaling the smoke and then puffing it 
from his mouth upon it, as if offering incense. Each one 
goes first and takes the calumet respectfully, and supporting 
it with both hands, makes it dance in cadence, suiting him¬ 
self to the air of the song; he makes it go through various 
figures, sometimes showing it to the whole assembly by turn¬ 
ing it from side to side. 

After this, he who is to begin the dance appears in the 
midst of the assembly, and goes first; sometimes he presents 
it to the sun, as if he wished it to smoke; sometime he in- 

• i 

rally make offerings at such places. Their bad manitou answers to our devil. 
All Indians are more or less superstitious, and believe in miraculous transforma¬ 
tions, ghosts, and witchcraft. They have jugglers and prophets who predict 
events, interpret dreams, and perforin incantations and mummeries. In the 
true acceptation of the term, the Indians have a religion, for they believe 
in a great spirit who resides in the clouds, and reigns throughout the earth. 
The French missionaries have been the most successful in planting Christianity 
among them; but in general, they prefer “to follow the religion of their fa¬ 
thers.” The savage mind, habituated to sloth, is not easily roused into a state 
of moral activity, and therefore, in general, they are incapable of embracing and 
understanding the sublime truths and doctrines of the evangelical law.—F. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


37 


dines it to the earth; and at other times he spreads its wings 
as if for it to fly; at other times, lie approaches it to the mouths 
of the spectators for them to smoke, the whole in cadence. 
This is the first scene of the ballet. 

The second consists in a combat, to the sound of a kind of 
drum, which succeeds the songs, or rather joins them, har¬ 
monizing quite well. The dancer beckons to some brave to 
come and take the arms on the mat, and challenges him to 
fight to the sound of the drums; the other approaches, takes 
his bow and arrow, and begins a duel against the dancer who 
has no defence but the calumet. This spectacle is very pleas¬ 
ing, especially as it is always done in time, for one attacks, 
the other defends ; one strikes, the other parries; one flies, the 
other pursues; then he who fled faces and puts his enemy to 
flight. This is all done so well with measured steps, and the 
regular sound of voices and drums, that it might pass for a 
very pretty opening of a ballet in France. 

The third scene consists of a speech delivered by the holder 
of the calumet, for the combat being ended without bloodshed, 
he relates the battles he was in, the victories he has gained; 
he names the nations, the places, the captives he has taken, 
and as a reward, he who presides at the dance presents him 
with a beautiful beaver robe, or something else, which he 
receives, and then he presents the calumet to another, who 
hands it to a third, and so to all the rest, till all having done 
their duty, the presiding chief presents the calumet itself to 
the nation invited to this ceremony in token of the eternal 
peace which shall reign between the two tribes. 

The following is one of the songs which they are accus¬ 
tomed to sing; they give it a certain expression, not easily 
represented by notes, yet in this all its grace consists:— 

“Ninahani, ninahani, ninahani, 

Naniongo.” 


38 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


We take leave of our Ilinois about the end of June, at 
three o’clock in the afternoon, and embark in sight of all the 
tribe, who admire our little canoes, having never seen the like. 

We descend, following the course of the river, toward an¬ 
other called Pekitanoiii,* which empties into the Missisipi, 
coming from the northwest, of which I have something con¬ 
siderable to say, after I have related what I have remarked 
of this river. 

Passing by some pretty high rocks which line the river, I 
perceived a plant which seemed to me very remarkable. Its 
root is like small turnips linked together by little fibres, which 
had the taste of carrots. From this root springs a leaf as wide 
as the hand, half of a finger thick with spots in the mid¬ 
dle; from this leaf spring other leaves like the sockets of 
chandeliers in our saloons. Each leaf bears five or six bell¬ 
shaped yellow flowers.f We found abundance of mulberries, 
as large as the French, and a small fruit which we took at 
first for olives, but it had the taste of an orange, and another 
as large as a hen’s egg; we broke it in half and found two 
separations, in each of which were encased eight or ten seed 
shaped like an almond, which are quite good when ripe.f The 
tree which bears them has, however, a very bad smell, and 
its leaf resembles that of the walnut. There are also, in the 
prairies, fruit resembling our filberts, but more tender; the 
leaves are larger, and spring from a stalk crowned at the top 
with a head like a sunflower, in which all these nuts are 
neatly arranged ; they are very good cooked or raw.|| 

* The name here given by Marquette, Pekitanoiii, that is, muddy water, pre¬ 
vailed till Marest’s time, (1712). A branch of Rock river is still called Pekatonica. 
The Recollects , called the Missouri, the river of the Ozages. 

f Probably the Cactus opuntia, several species of which grow in the western 
states.—F. 

J Probably the Diospyros virginiana, or persimon-tree. 

I Probably the Castanea pumila, or chincapin.—F. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


39 


As we coasted along rocks frightful for their height and 
length, we saw two monsters painted on one of these rocks, 
which startled us at first, and on which the boldest Indian 
dare not gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with horns 
on the head like a deer, a fearful look, red eyes, bearded like 
a tiger, the face somewhat like a man’s, the body covered with 
scales, and the tail so long that it twice makes the turn of the 
body, passing over the head and down between the legs, and 
ending at last in a fish’s tail. Green, red, and a kind of black, 
are the colors employed. On the whole, these two monsters 
are so well painted, that we could not believe any Indian to 
have been the designer, as good painters in France would find it 
hard to do as well; besides this, they are so high upon the rock 
that it is hard to get conveniently at them to paint them. This 
is pretty nearly the figure of these monsters, as I drew it off.* 

As we were discoursing of them, sailing gently down a 
beautiful, still, clear water, we heard the noise of a rapid into 
which we were about to fall. I have seen nothing more fright¬ 
ful; a mass of large trees, entire, with branches, real floating 
islands, came rushing from the mouth of the river Pekitanoiii, 
so impetuously, that w T e could not, without great danger, 
expose ourselves to pass across. The agitation was so great 
that the water was all muddy and could not get clear. 

Pekitanoiiif is a considerable river which coming from 

* The drawing of these figures by Marquette is lost. “The painted monsters,” 
says Stoddard, “ on the side of a high perpendicular rock, apparently inaccessi¬ 
ble to man, between the Missouri and Ilinois, and known to moderns by the 
name of Piesa , still remain in a good degree of preservation.” 

\ Father Marquette had now reached the junction of the Missouri and the 
Mississippi, in latititude north 38° 50'. “The Achelous and Teliboas,” Bays 
Stoddard, “are insignificant rivers when compared with the Mississippi and 
Missouri; yet Thucydides and Xenophon exerted all their powers to render them 
immortal. The two great rivers of the west furnish themes still more pregnant 
with the sublime and beautiful. The great length of them, the variety of scenery 
as they roll among mountains, or over extensive plains, at once charm the senses 


40 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


very far in the northwest, empties into the Missisipi. Many 
Indian towns are ranged along this river, and I hope, by its 
means, to make the discovery of the Red, or California sea. 

We judged by the direction the Missisipi takes, that if 
it keeps on the same course it has its mouth in the gulf of 
Mexico; it would be very advantageous to find that which 
leads to the South sea, toward California and this, as I said, 
I hope to find by Pekitanoui, following the account which the 
Indians have given me ; for from them I learn that advancing 
up this river for five or six days, you come to a beautiful 
prairie twenty or thirty leagues long, which you must cross to 
the northwest. It terminates at another little river on which 
you can embark, it not being difiicult to transport canoes over 
so beautiful a country as that prairie. This second river runs 
southwest for ten or fifteen leagues, after which it enters a 
small lake, which is the source of another deep river, running 
to the west where it empties into the sea.* I have hardly 
any doubt that this is the Red sea, and I do not despair of 
one day making the discovery, if God does me this favor and 
grants me health, in order to be able to publish the gospel to 
all the nations of this new world who have so long been 
plunged in heathen darkness. 

Let us resume our route after having escaped as best we 
could, the dangerous rapid caused by the obstacle of which 
I have spoken. 

and warm the imagination. The facilities they yield to commerce, the superflu¬ 
ous wealth of twenty states conveyed to the ocean, the variety of climates, soils, 
and productions on their borders, the mineral and other subterranean riches of the 
soil, seem to be designed by Heaven to impress us with their importance and sub¬ 
limity.” 

* Marquette was right in his conjecture, as topographical surveys have since 
determined, that the gulf of California might be reached by the Platte which is 
one of the tributaries of the Missouri. The head waters of the Platte almost in¬ 
terlock with the head waters of the Colorado, which latter river flows into the 
Red sea, or gulf of California, as here stated by Marquette.—F. 


DISCOVERIES IN TIIE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


41 


SECTION VII. 

NEW COUNTRIES DISCOVERED BY THE FATHER.—VARIOUS PARTICULARS.— 
MEETING WITH SOME INDIANS.—FIRST TIDINGS OF THE SEA AND OF EURO - 
PEANS.—GREAT DANGER AVOIDED BY THE CALUMET. 

Aeter having made about twenty leagues due south, and 
a little less to the southeast, we came to a river called Oua- 
boukigou,* the mouth of which is at 36° north. Before we 
arrived there, we passed by a place dreaded by the Indians, 
because they think that there is a manitou there, that is, a 
demon who devours all who pass, and of this it was, that they 
had spoken, when they wished to deter us from our enter¬ 
prise. The devil is this — a small bay, full of rocks, some 
twenty feet high, where the whole current of the river is 
whirled ; hurled back against that which follows, and checked 
by a neighboring island, the mass of water is forced through 
a narrow channel; all this is not done without a furious com¬ 
bat of the waters tumbling over each other, nor without a 
great roaring, which strikes terror into Indians who fear 
everything. It did not prevent our passing and reaching 
8ab8kig8. This river comes from the country on the east, 
inhabited by the people called Chaouanons,f in such numbers 

* The Ohio, or beautiful river, as that Iroquois name signifies. The name 
given by Marquette, became finally Ouabache, in our spelling Wabash, and is 
now applied to the last tributary of the Ohio. The letter used a few lines lower 
down for ou, is the Greek contraction, and was used by the missionaries to ex¬ 
press a peculiar Indian sound, which we have often represented by W. 

f The Chawanons have become by our substitution of sh, Shawnees. I find 
the name Chaouanong in the Relation 1671—72, as another name for the people 
called Ontoiiagannha, which is defined in the Relation of 1661-62, to mean 
“ where they do not know how to speak.” This is not then their name, and 
the name Chaouanong probably came through the western Algonquins, and was 
usually translated by the French the Chats, or Cat tribe. I am strongly in¬ 
clined to think them identical with the tribe called, by the Huron missionaries, 
while that nation stood, the Erieehonons, or Cats ( Rel . 1640—’41). This tribe 


42 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


that they reckon as many as twenty-three villages in one dis¬ 
trict, and fifteen in another, lying quite near each other; 
they are by no means warlike, and are the people the Iro¬ 
quois go far to seek in order to wage an unprovoked war upon 
them; and, as these poor people can not defend themselves, 
they allow themselves to be taken and carried off like sheep, 
and innocent as they are, do not fail to experience, at times, 
the barbarity of the Iroquois, who burn them cruelly. 

A little above this river of which I have just spoken, are 
cliffs where our men perceived an iron mine, which they 
deemed very rich ; there are many veins, and a bed a foot 
thick. Large masses are found combined with pebbles. 
There is also there a kind of unctuous earth of three colors, 
purple, violet, and red,* the water in which it is washed be¬ 
comes blood-red. There is also a very heavy, red sand ; I 
put some on a paddle, and it took the color so well, that the 

then occupied western New York, except a little strip on the Niagara river, 
where there were three or four villages of Attiwandaronk, or Neuters. Morgan 
in his League of the Iroquois , indeed, thinks the Neuters to be Cats; but as the 
Neuters were incorporated into the Iroquois (Eel. 1655, Ac.), under the name 
of Atirliagenret, or Rhagenraka (Eels. 1671, ’73, ’74), while the Eries were grad¬ 
ually expelled; it seems more probable that they retired from their lake to the 
Ohio, thence to the Tennessee, and turning south, came up again to Pennsylvania. 
During this period, being known chiefly through Algonquins tribes, they were 
called by an Algonquin word for the animal of which they bore the name. De 
Laet giving the names of the tribes from the mouth of the Delaware to Lake Erie, 
puts the Sawanos one of those nearest the Senecas and the lake; and this name 
differs from the later French name only in the aspirate, frequently omitted and 
expressed at random by the same writer, as we find Missilimakinac, and Michili- 
mackinae, 3faskoictens and Machkoutens, Kaskaskia and Kachkachkia. This will 
I think, justify our supposing the Eries, Shawnees, Chaouanons, Ontoiiagannha, 
Sawanas, to be the same unfortunate tribe whom the Iroquois so perseveringly 
followed. Much confusion has been of late years occasioned by writers utterly 
unfamiliar with the language, religion, or writings of the early French mission¬ 
aries. This has gone so far, that in Schoolcraft’s ponderous work on the History , 
Condition , and Progress of the Indian Tribes, we are asked, at p. 560, whether 
the Eries were the Neuters! 

* This has always been a favorite spot for the resort of Indians to obtain dif¬ 
ferent colored clays with which they paint themselves.—F. 


DISCOVEKIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI YALLEY. 43 

water did not efface it for fifteen days that I used it in row¬ 
ing. 

Here we began to see canes, or large reeds on the banks 
of the river; they are of a very beautiful green; all the knots 
are crowned with long, narrow, pointed leaves ; they are very 
high, and so thick-set, that the wild cattle find it difficult to 
make their way through them. 

IJp to the present time we had not been troubled by mus- 
quitoes, but we now, as it were, entered their country.* Let 
me tell you what the Indians of these parts do to defend 
themselves against them. They raise a scaffolding, the floor 
of which is made of simple poles, and consequently a mere 
grate-work to give passage to the smoke of a fire which they 
build beneath. This drives off the little animals, as they can 
not bear it. The Indians sleep on the poles, having pieces of 
bark stretched above them to keep off the rain. This scaf¬ 
folding shelters them too from the excessive and insupport¬ 
able heat of the country; for they lie in the shade in the 
lower story, and are thus sheltered from the rays of the sun, 
enjoy the cool air which passes freely through the scaffold. 

With the same view we were obliged to make on the water 
a kind of cabin with our sails, to shelter ourselves from the 
musquitoes and the sun. While thus borne on at the will of the 
current, we perceived on the shore Indians armed with guns, 
with which they awaited us. I first presented my feathered 
calumet, while my comrades stood to arms, ready to fire on 
the first volley of the Indians. I hailed them in Huron, but 
they answered me by a word, which seemed to us a declara¬ 
tion of war. They were, however, as much frightened as our- 

* Marquette had now reached the country of the warlike Chicachas, whose 
territory extended several hundred miles along the banks of the Mississippi, and 
far to the eastward, where they carried on a traffic with tribes who traded with 
Europeans.—F. 


44 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


3elves, and what we took for a signal of war, was an invitation 
to come near, that they might give us food ; we accordingly 
landed and entered their cabins, where they presented us 
wild-beef and bear’s oil, with white plums, which are excel¬ 
lent. They have guns, axes, hoes, knives, beads, and double 
glass bottles in which they keep the powder. They wear 
their hair long and mark their bodies in the Iroquois fashion ; 
the head-dress and clothing of their women were like those 
of the Huron squaws. 

They assured us that it was not more than ten days’ journey 
to the sea; that they bought stuffs and other articles of Euro¬ 
peans on the eastern side ; that these Europeans had rosaries 
and pictures; that they played on instruments; that some 
were like me, who received them well. I did not, however, 
see any one who seemed to have received any instruction 
in the faith; such as I could, I gave them with some 
medals.* 

This news roused our courage and made us take up our 
paddles with renewed ardor. We advance then, and now 
begin to see less prairie land, because both sides or the river 
are lined with lofty woods. The cotton-wood, elm and white- 
wood, are of admirable height and size. The numbers of wild 
cattle we heard bellowing, made us believe the prairies near. 
We also saw quails on the water’s edge, and killed a little 
parrot with half the head red, the rest, with the neck, yellow, 
and the body green. We had now descended to near 33° 
north, having almost always gone south, when on the water’s 

* The missionary gives no name to this tribe or party, but from their dress 
and language, apparently of the Huron-Iroquois family, they may have been a 
Tuscarora party, and referred to the Spaniards of Florida with whom they 
traded in trinkets for skins. That they were not dwellers on the Mississippi 
seems probable, from the fact that they were spoken of, not by the next tribe, 
but by those lower down, whom they had doubtless reached on some other 
foray. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


45 


edge we perceived a village called Mitchigamea.* We had 
recourse to our patroness and guide, the Blessed Yirgin Im¬ 
maculate; and, indeed, we needed her aid, for we heard from 
afar the Indians exciting one another to the combat by con¬ 
tinual yells. They were armed with bows, arrows, axes, war- 
clubs, and bucklers, and prepared to attack us by land and 
water; some embarked in large wooden canoes, a part to ascend 
the rest to descend the river, so as to cut off our way, and 
surround us completely. Those on shore kept going and 
coming, as if about to begin the attack. In fact, some young 
men sprang into the water to come and seize my canoe, but 
the current having compelled them to return to the shore, one 
of them threw his war-club at us, but it passed over our heads 
without doing us anv harm. In vain I showed the calumet, 
and made gestures to explain that we had not come as ene¬ 
mies. The alarm continued, and they were about to pierce 
us from all sides with their arrows, when God suddenly 
touched the hearts of the old men on the water-side, doubt¬ 
less at the sight of our calumet, which at a distance they had 
not distinctly recognised ; but as I showed it continually, they 
were touched, restrained the ardor of their youth, and two of 
the chiefs having thrown their bows and quivers into our 
canoe, and as it were at our feet, entered and brought us to 
the shore, where we disembarked, not without fear on our 
part. We had at first to speak by signs, for not one under- 

* The Mitchigameas were a warlike tribe, and lived on a lake of that name 
near the river St Francis. They finally became fused into the Ilinois nation, 
as Charlevoix assures us in his journal, where he makes them inhabitants of the 
villages of the Kaskaskias, in 1721. This brings them near the part which had 
but shortly before taken the name of Michigan, given also to the lake which the 
Jesuits called Lake Ilinois. The name Michigan may come from them, though 
I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Pierz, an Ottawa missionary, that Mitehikan, 
meaning a fence , was the Indian of Mackinaw, and the name under the form 
Machihiganing was used some years prior by Allouez.— Rcl. 69, 70. 


46 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


stood a word of tlie six languages I knew; at last an old man 
was found who spoke a little Ilinois. 

We showed them by our presents, that we were going to the 
sea; they perfectly understood our meaning, but I know not 
whether they understood what I told them of God, and the 
things which concerned their salvation. It is a seed cast in 
the earth which will bear its fruit in season. We got no 
answer, except that we would learn all we desired at another 
great village called Akamsea, only eight or ten leagues 
farther down the river. They presented us with sagamity 
and fish, and we spent the night among them, not, however, 
without some uneasiness. 


SECTION VIII. 

RECEPTION GIVEN TO THE FRENCH IN THE LAST OF THE TOWNS WHICH 
THEY SAW.—MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THESE SAVAGES.—REASONS FOR 
NOT GOING FURTHER. 

We embarked next morning with our interpreter, preceded 
by ten Indians in a canoe. Having arrived about half a 
league from Akamsea* (Arkansas), we saw two^canoes coming 

* It is probable that Akamsea was not far from the Indian village of Guacho- 
ya, where De Soto breathed his last, one hundred and thirty years before; and 
Mitchigamea, the village of Aminoya, where Alvarado de Moscoso built his fleet 
of brigantines to return to Mexico. The historian of that expedition, says “The 
same day we left Aminoya (July 2d, 1543), we passed by Guachoya, where the 
Indians tarried for us in their canoes.” The Spaniards were attacked in de¬ 
scending the river by powerful fleets of Indian canoes, and lost in one of these 
engagements the brave John de Guzman and eleven men. In sixteen davs they 
reached the mouth of the Mississippi, and on the 10th September, 1543, the rem¬ 
nant of this once splendid expedition reached Mexico. It must have been, there¬ 
fore, at or near the mouth of the Arkansas, and not Red river, where De Soto 
died, otherwise it would not have taken Moscoso one half of the time to reach 
the gulf of Mexico from the latter river, which is but three hundred and fifty 
miles from the gulf.—F. 



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 47 

toward us. The commander was standing up holding in his 
hand the calumet, with which he made signs according to the 
custom of the country; he approached us, singing quite 
agreeably, and invited us to smoke, after which he present¬ 
ed us some sagamity and bread made of Indian corn, of 
which we ate a little. He now took the lead, making us 
signs to follow slowly. Meanwhile they had prepared us a 
place under the war-chiefs’ scaffold ; it was neat and car¬ 
peted with fine rush, mats, on which they made us sit down, 
having around us immediately the sachems, then the braves, 
and last of all, the people in crowds. We fortunately 
found among them a young man who understood Ilinois 
much better than the interpreter whom we had brought 
from Mitchigamea. By means of him I first spoke to the 
assembly by the ordinary presents; they admired what 
I told them of God, and the mysteries of our holy faith, 
and showed a great desire to keep me with them to instruct 
them. 

We then asked them what they knew of the sea; they re¬ 
plied that we were only ten days’ journey from it (we could 
have made this distance in five days); that they did not know 
the nations who inhabited it, because their enemies prevented 
their commerce with those Europeans; that the hatchets, 
knives, and beads, which we saw, were sold them, partly by 
the nations to the east, and partly by an Ilinois town four 
days’ journey to the west; that the Indians with fire-arms 
whom we had met, were their enemies who cut off their pas¬ 
sage to the sea, and prevented their making the acquaintance 
of the Europeans, or having any commerce with them; that, 
besides, we should expose ourselves greatly by passing on, in 
consequence of the continual war-parties that their enemies 
sent out on the river; since being armed and used to war, we 


48 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

could not, without evident danger, advance on that river 
which they constantly occupy. 

During this converse, they kept continually bringing us in 
wooden dishes of sagamity, Indian corn whole, or pieces of 
dog-flesh ; the whole day was spent in feasting. 

These Indians are very courteous and liberal ot what they 
have, but they are very poorly off for food, not daring to go 
and hunt the wild-cattle, for fear of their enemies. It is 
true, they have Indian corn in abundance, which they sow 
at all seasons; we saw some ripe; more just sprouting, and 
more just in the ear, so that they sow three crops a year. 
They cook it in large earthern pots,* which are very well 
made; they have also plates of baked earth, which they em¬ 
ploy for various purposes. The men go naked, and wear 
their hair short; they have the nose and ears pierced, and 
beads hanging from them. The women are dressed in 
wretched skins; they braid their hair in two plaits, which falls 
behind their ears; they have no ornaments to decorate their 
persons. Their banquets are without any ceremonies; they 
serve their meats in large dishes, and everyone eats as much 
as he pleases, and they give the rest to one another. Their 
language is extremely difficult, and with all my efforts, I 
could not succeed in pronouncing some words. Their cabins, 
which are long and wide, are made of bark; they sleep at 
the two extremities, which are raised about two feet from the 
ground. They keep their corn in large baskets, made of 
cane, or in gourds, as large as half barrels. They do not 
know what a beaver is ; their riches consisting in the hides 
of wild cattle. They never see snow, and know the winter 

* Indian pottery is one of the most ancient arts of this country. The southern 
tribes particularly excelled in the manufacture of various articles for household 
use, which, in form and finish, were not unlike the best remains of Roman 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


49 


only by the rain which falls oftener than in summer.* ¥e eat 
no fruit there but watermelons; if they knew how to culti¬ 
vate their ground, they might have plenty of all kinds. 

In the evening the sachems held a secret council on the de¬ 
sign of some to kill us for plunder, but the chief broke up all 
these schemes, and sending for us, danced the calumet in our 
presence, in the manner I have described above, as a mark 
of perfect assurance; and then, to remove all fears, presented 
it to me. 

M. Jollyet and I held another council to deliberate on 
what we should do, whether we should push on, or rest satis¬ 
fied with the discovery that we had made. After having at¬ 
tentively considered that we were not far from the gulf of 
Mexico, the basin of which is 31° 40' north, and we at 33° 
40', so that we could not be more than two or three days 
journey off; that the Missisipi undoubtedly had its mouth 
in Florida or the gulf of Mexico, and not on the east, in 
Virginia, whose seacoast is at 34° north, which we had passed, 
without having as yet reached the sea, nor on the western 
side in California, because that would require a west, or west- 
southwest course, and we had always been going south. We 
considered, moreover, that we risked losing the fruit of this 
voyage, of which we could give no information, if we should 
throw ourselves into the hands of the Spaniards, who would 
undoubtedly, at least, hold us as prisoners. Besides, it was 


* Marquette had now descended to genial climes, “that knew no winter, but 
rains, beyond the bound of the Huron and Algonquin tribes,” to tribes that 
claimed descent from the Aztecs, and who still probably spoke a Mexican dialect 
which compelled Marquette to employ an interpreter. The few words which 
have been recorded of the Arkansas tribes by early travellers, and the similarity 
of their institutions and customs to Mexican tribes, seem likewise to confirm 
their origin. That they came from Mexico by the Rio Colorado and headwaters 
of the Platte or Arkansas rivers to the Mississippi, is not at all improbable; but 
when they came is a problem which can not be so easily solved.—F. 

4 


50 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


clear, that we were not in a condition to resist Indians allied 
to Europeans, numerous and expert in the use of fire-arms, 
who continually infested the lower part of the river. Lastly, 
we had gathered all the information that could he desired 
from the expedition.* All these reasons induced us to re¬ 
solve to return; this we announced to the Indians, and after 
a day’s rest, prepared for it. 


SECTION IX. 

RETURN OF THE FATHER, AND THE FRENCH BAPTISM OF A DYING CHILD. 

After a month’s navigation down the Missisipi, from the 
42d to below the 34th degree, and after having published the 
gospel as well as I could to the nations I had met, we left the 
village of Akamsea on the 17th of July, to retrace our steps. 
¥e accordingly ascended the Missisipi, which gave us great 
trouble to stem its currents.f We left it indeed, about the 
38th degree, to enter another river, which greatly shortened 

* The great object was to discover where the river emptied, and this did not 
require further progress. Marquette’s voyage indeed settled it so completely, 
that we find no more hopes expressed of reaching the Pacific by the Mississippi. 
The missionary’s fears of the Spaniards were not unnatural, as New Mexico was 
the avowed object of the expedition, and the authorities there would certainly 
have prevented their return, for fear of opening a path to French encroachment. 

\ The Mississippi is remarkable for its great length, uncommon depth, and 
the muddiness and salubrity of its waters after its junction with the Missouri. 
Below this river the banks present a rugged aspect; the channel is deep and 
crooked, and often winds from one side of the river to the other. The strength 
and rapidity of its current are such in high water, that before steam was used, 
it could not be stemmed without much labor and waste of time. At high water 
the current descends at the rate of five or six miles an hour, and in low water 
at the rate of two or three miles only. Between the Arkansas and the Delta 
the velocity of the current is diminished nearly one third; and from this to the 
sea, about one half. In 1727, it took Father du Poisson, missionary to the Ar¬ 
kansas, to make a voyage from New Orleans to that mission, including some 
stoppages, from the 25th May to the 7th July.—F. 



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


51 


our way, and brought us, with little trouble, to the lake of 
the Ilinois * 

We had seen nothing like this river for the fertility of 
the land, its prairies, woods, wild cattle, stag, deer, wild¬ 
cats, bustards, swans, ducks, parrots, and even beaver; its 
many little lakes and rivers. That on which we sailed, is 
broad, deep, and gentle for sixty-five leagues. During the 
spring and part of the summer, the only portage is half a 
league. 

We found there an Ilinois town called Kaskaskia, com¬ 
posed of seventy-four cabins; they received us well, and 
compelled me to promise to return and instruct them. One 
of the chiefs bf this tribe with his young men, escorted 
us to the Ilinois lake, whence at last we returned in the close 
of September to the bay of the Fetid, whence we had set out 
in the beginning of June. 

Had all this voyage caused but the salvation of a single 
soul, I should deem all my fatigue well repaid, and this I 
have reason to think, for, when I was returning, I passed by 
the Indians of Peoria.f I was three days announcing the 
faith in all their cabins, after which as we were embarking, 
they brought me on the water’s edge a dying child, which I 


* Lake Michigan was so called for a long time, probably from the fact that 
through it lay the direct route to the Ilinois villages, which Father Marquette 
was now the first to visit. Marest erroneously treats the name as a mistake 
of geographers, and is one of the first to call it Michigan. The river which Mar¬ 
quette now ascended has been more fortunate, it still bears the name of Ilinois. 

f Unfortunately he does not tells us where he met these roving Peorians, who 
thus enabled him to keep his promise to resist them. As they have left their 
name on the Ilinois river, he may have found them there, below the Kaskaskias 
who, no less erratic, left their name to a more southerly river, and to a town at 
its mouth, on the Mississippi. It must then be borne in mind that Marquette’s 
Peoria, and his and Alloues’ town of Kaskaskia are quite different from the present 
places of the name in situation. The Ilinois seemed to have formed a link be¬ 
tween the wandering Algonquin and the fixed Iroquois; they had villages like 
the latter, and though they roved like the former, they roved in villages. 


52 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


baptized a little before it expired, by an admirable Providence 
for the salvation of that innocent soul.f 

f The following table of distances offer the best means of forming some idea 
of the whole distance passed over by M. Jollyet and Father Marquette:— 


Miles. 

From the mission of St. Ignac to Green bay about. 218 

From Green bay (Puans) up Fox river to the portage. 175 

From the portage down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi. 175 

From the mouth of the Wisconsin to the mouth of the Arkansas.. 1,087 

From the mouth of the Arkansas to the Ilinois river. 547 

From the mouth of the Ilinois to the Chicago. 305 

From the Chicago to Green bay, by the lake shore. 260 


2767 


Spark’s Life of Marquette . 









CHAPTER II. 


NARRATIVE OF THE SECOND VOYAGE MADE BY FATHER JAMES MARQUETTE 
TO THE ILINOIS TO CARRY THE FAITH TO THEM, AND THE GLORIOUS DEATH 
OF THE SAME FATHER IN THE LABORS OF HIS MISSION. 


V 


SECTION I. 


THE FATHER SE fs OUT A SECOND TIME FOR THE ILINOIS.—HE ARRIVES 
THERE IN SPITE OF HIS ILLNESS AND FOUNDS THE MISSION OF THE CON¬ 
CEPTION. 

ATHER James Marquette Laving promised the Ilinois, 



called Kaskaskia, to return among them to teach them 


our mysteries^ had great difficulty in keeping his word. 
The great hardships of his first voyage had brought on a dys¬ 
entery, and had so enfeebled him, that he lost all hope of un¬ 
dertaking a second voyage. Yet, his malady having given 
way and almost ceased toward the close of summer in the fol¬ 
lowing year, he obtained permission of his superiors to return 
to the Ilinois to found that noble mission.* 

* By his last journal, which we publish entire from his autograph, we learn 
that Father Marquette was detained at the mission of St. Francis Xavier, in Green 
bay, during the whole summer of 1674. Recovering in September, he drew up 
and sent to his superiors, copies of his journal down the Mississippi, and having 
received orders to repair to the Ilinois, set out, on the 25th of October, with two 

men named Pierre Porteret and Jacques-. They crossed the peninsula 

which forms the eastern side of Green bay, and began to coast along the shore 
of Lake Michigan, accompanied by some Ilinois and Poltawatomies. They ad¬ 
vanced but slowly by land and water, frequently arrested by the state of the 
lake. On the 23d of November, the good missionary was again seized by his 
malady, but he pushed on, and by the 4th of December, had reached the 
Chicago, which connects by portage with the Ilinois. But the river was now 




54 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


He set out for this purpose in the month of November, 
1674, from the Bay of the Fetid, with two men, one of whom 
had already made that voyage with him. During a month’s 
navigation on the Ilinois lake, he was pretty well; but as 
soon as the snow began to fall, he was again seized with the 
dysentery which forced him to stop in the river which leads 
to the Ilinois. There they raised a cabin and spent the win¬ 
ter in such want of every comfort that his illness constantly 
increased; he felt that God had granted him the grace he 
had so often asked, and he even plainly told his com¬ 
panions so, assuring them that he would die of that ill¬ 
ness, and on that voyage. To prepare his soul for its de¬ 
parture, he began that rude wintering by the exercises of 
St. Ignatius,* which, in spite of his great bodily weakness, he 

frozen, and though they attempted to proceed, the pious missionary submitted 
to the necessity, and deprived even of the consolation of saying mass on his 
patronal feast* the Immaculate Conception, resolved at last, on the 14th, to win¬ 
ter at the portage, as his illness increased. His Indian companions now left 
him, and though aided by some French traders, he suffered much during the fol¬ 
lowing months. Of this, however, he says nothing. “The Blessed Virgin Im¬ 
maculate,” says his journal, “ has taken such care of us during our wandering, 
that we have never wanted food; we have lived very comfortably; my illness 
not having prevented my saying mass every day.” IIow little can we realize 
the faith and self-denial which could give so pleasant a face to a winter passed 
by a dying man in a cabin open to the winds. The Ilinois aware of his presence 
so near them, sent indeed ; but so gross were their ideas of his object, that they 
asked the dying missionary for powder and goods. “I have come to instruct 
you, and speak to you of the prayer,” was his answer. “Powder, I have not; 
we come to spread peace through the land, and I do not wish to see you at war 
with the Miamis. 5 '* As for goods, he could but encourage the French to continue 
their trade. Despairing at last of human remedies, the missionary and his two 
pious companions began a novena, or nine days’ devotion to the Blessed Virgin Im¬ 
maculate. From its close he began to gain strength, and when the freshet com¬ 
pelled them to remove their cabin, on the 29th of March he set out again on his 
long interrupted voyage, the river being now open ; his last entry is of the 6th 
of April, when the wind and cold compelled them to halt. He never found time 
to continue his journal; and his last words are a playful allusion to the hard¬ 
ships undergone by the traders, in which he sympathized, while insensible of his 
own. 

* These are a series of meditation on the great truths of religion—the object 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


55 


performed with deep sentiments of devotion, and great heav¬ 
enly consolation; and then spent the rest of his time in collo¬ 
quies with all heaven, having no more intercourse with earth, 
amid these deserts, except with his two companions whom he 
confessed and communicated twice a week, and exhorted as 
much as his strength allowed. Some time after Christmas, 
in order to obtain the grace not to die without having taken 
possession of his beloved mission, he invited his companions 
to make a novena in honor of the Immaculate Conception of 
the Blessed Virgin. Contrary to all human expectation he was 
heard and recovering found himself able to proceed to the 
Ilinois town as soon as navigation was free; this he accom¬ 
plished in great joy, setting out on the 29th of March. He 
was eleven days on the way, where he had ample matter for 
suffering, both from his still sickly state, and from the sever¬ 
ity and inclemency of the weather. 

Having at last reached the town on the 8th of April, he 
was received there as an angel from heaven ; and after having 
several times assembled the chiefs of the nation with all the 
old men (anciens),* to sow in their minds the first seed of the 
gospel; after carrying his instructions into the cabins, which 
were always filled with crowds of people, he resolved to speak 
to all publicly in general assembly, which he convoked in 
the open fields, the cabins being too small for the meeting. A 
beautiful prairie near the town was chosen for the great coun¬ 
cil ; it was adorned in the fashion of the country, being spread 
with mats and bearskins, and the father having hung on cords 
some pieces of India taffety, attached to them four large pictures 

of man’s creation, the work of his redemption, and the means of attaining the 
former by participating in the latter. To spend a number of days in revolving 
these serious thoughts is called making a retreat. 

* I have my doubts whether ancicna , in these French accounts, does not mean 
sachems, the rulers of the tribe. 


56 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


of the Blessed Virgin, which were thus visible on all sides. The 
auditory was composed of five hundred chiefs and old men, 
seated in a circle around the father, while the youth stood 
without to the number of fifteen hundred, not counting women 
and children, who are very numerous, the town being com¬ 
posed of five or six hundred fires. 

The father spoke to all this gathering, and addressed them 
ten words by ten presents which he made them ;* he ex¬ 
plained to them the principal mysteries of our religion, and 
the end for which he had come to their country ; and es¬ 
pecially he preached to them Christ crucified, for it was the 
very eve of the great day on which he died on the cross for 
them, as well as for the rest of men. He then said mass. 

Three days after, on Easter Sunday, things being arranged 
in the same manner as on Thursday, he celebrated the 
holy mysteries for the second time, and by these two sac¬ 
rifices, the first ever offered there to God, he took possession 
of that land in the name of Jesus Christ, and gave this mis¬ 
sion the name of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed 
Virgin. 

He was listened to with universal joy and approbation by 
all this people, who earnestly besought him to return as soon 
as possible among them, since his malady obliged him to 
leave them. The father, on his part, showed them the affec¬ 
tion he bore them, his satisfaction at their conduct, and gave 
his word that he or some other of our fathers would return to 
continue this mission so happily begun. This promise he re¬ 
peated again and again, on parting with them to begin his 

* Words addressed to Indians, when not accompanied by a wampum belt, 
were considered unimportant; and the missionary who first announced the gos¬ 
pel in a village, always spoke by the belt of the prayer , which he held in his 
hand, and which remained to witness his words when the sound had died 
away. 


1 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 57 

journey. He set out amid such marks of friendship from 
these good people, that they escorted him with pomp more 
than thirty leagues of the way, contending with one another 
for the honor of carrying his little baggage. 


SECTION II. 

THE FATHER IS COMPELLED TO LEAVE HIS ILINOIS MISSION.—HIS LAST 
ILLNESS.—HIS PRECIOUS DEATH AMID THE FORESTS. 

After the Ilinois had taken leave of the father, filled with 
a great idea of the gospel, he continued his voyage, and soon 
after reached the Ilinois lake, on which he had nearly a hun¬ 
dred leagues to make by an unknown route, because he was 
obliged to take the southern [eastern] side of the lake, hav¬ 
ing gone thither by the northern [western]. His strength, 
however, failed so much, that his men despaired of being 
able to carry him alive to their journey’s end ; for, in fact, 
he became so weak and exhausted, that he could no longer 
help himself, nor even stir, and had to be handled and car¬ 
ried like a child. 

He nevertheless maintained in this state an admirable equa¬ 
nimity, joy, and gentleness, consoling his beloved companions, 
and encouraging them to suffer courageously all the hardships 
of the way, assuring them that our Lord would not forsake 
them when he was gone. During this navigation he began 
to prepare more particularly for death, passing his time in 
colloquies with our Lord, with His holy mother, with his an¬ 
gel-guardian, or with all heaven. He was often heard pro¬ 
nouncing these words : u I believe that my Redeemer liveth,” 
or, u Mary, mother of grace, mother of God, remember me.” 
Besides a spiritual reading made for him every day, he tow- 



58 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


ard the close asked them to read him his meditation on the 
preparation for death, which he carried about him: he recited 
his breviary every day; and although he was so low, that 
both sight and strength had greatly failed, he did not omit it 
till the last day of his life, when his companions induced him 
to cease, as it was shortening his days. 

A week before his death, he had the precaution to bless 
some holy water, to serve him during the rest of his illness, 
in his agony, and at his burial, and he instructed his compan¬ 
ions how to use it. 

The eve of his death, which was a Friday, he told them, all 
radiant with joy, that it would take place on the morrow. 
During the whole day he conversed with them about the 
manner of his burial, the way in which he should be laid out, 
the place to be selected for his interment; he told them how 
to arrange his hands, feet, and face, and directed them to 
raise a cross over his grave. He even went so far as to enjoin 
them, only three hours before he expired, to take his chapel- • 
bell, as soon as he was dead, and ring it while they carried 
him to the grave. Of all this he spoke so calmly and collect¬ 
edly, that you would have thought that he spoke of the death 
and burial of another, and not of his own. 

Thus did he speak with them as they sailed along the lake, 
till, perceiving the mouth of a river, with an eminence on the 
bank which he thought suited for his burial, he told them that 
it was the place of his last repose. They wished, however, to 
pass on, as the weather permitted it, and the day was not far 
advanced; but God raised a contrary wind, which obliged 
them to return and enter the river pointed out by Father 
Marquette.* 

* A marginal note says, “This river now bears the father’s name.” It was 
indeed long called Marquette river, but from recent maps the name seems to 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 59 

They then carried him ashore, kindled a little fire, and 
raised for him a wretched bark cabin, where they laid him as 
little uncomfortably as they could ; but they were so overcome 
by sadness, that, as they afterward said, they did not know 
what they were doing. 

The father being thus stretched on the shore, like St. 
Francis Xavier, as he had always so ardently desired, 
and left alone amid those forests — for his companions were 
engaged in unloading—he had leisure to repeat all the 
acts in which he had employed himself during the preceding 
days. 

When his dear companions afterward came up, all dejected, 
he consoled them, and gave them hopes that God would take 
care of them after his death in those new and unknown coun¬ 
tries ; he gave them his last instructions, thanked them for 
all the chanty they had shown him during the voyage, begged 
their pardon for the trouble he had given them, and directed 
them also to ask pardon in his name of all our fathers and 
brothers in the Ottawa country, and then disposed them to 
receive the sacrament of penance, which he administered to 
them for the last time; he also gave them a paper on which 
he had written all his faults since his last confession, to be 
given to his superior, to oblige him to pray more earnestly for 
him. In fine, he promised not to forget them in heaven, and 
as he was very kind-hearted, and knew them to be worn out 
with the toil of the preceding days, he bade them go and take 
a little rest, assuring them that his hour was not yet so near, 
but that he would wake them when it was time, as in fact he 
did, two or three hours after, calling them when about to 
enter his agony. 

have been forgotten. Its Indian name is Notispescago, and according to others, 
Aniniondibeganining. It is a very small stream, not more than fifteen paces 
long, being the outlet of a small lake, as Charlevoix assures us. 


60 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

When they came near he embraced them for the last time, 
while they melted in tears at his feet; he then asked for the 
holy water and liis reliquary, and taking off his crucifix 
which he wore around his neck, he placed it in the hands of 
one, asking him to hold it constantly opposite him, raised be¬ 
fore his eyes; then feeling that he had but a little time to 
live, he made a last effort, clasped his hands, and with his 
eyes fixed sweetly on his crucifix, he pronounced aloud his 
profession of faith, and thanked the Divine Majesty for the 
immense grace he did him in allowing him to die in the so¬ 
ciety of Jesus; to die in it as a missionary of Jesus Christ, 
and above all to die in it, as he had always asked, in a 
wretched cabin, amid the forests, destitute of all human aid. 

On this he became silent, conversing inwardly with God ; 
yet from time to time words escaped him : “ Sustinuit anima 
mea in verba ejus,” or “ Mater Dei, memento mei,” which 
were the last words he uttered before entering on his agony, 
which was very calm and gentle. 

He had prayed his companions to remind him, when they 
saw him about to expire, to pronounce frequently the names 
of Jesus and Mary. When he could not do it himself, they did 
it for him; and when they thought him about to pass, one cried 
aloud Jesus Maria, which he several times repeated distinct¬ 
ly, and then, as if at those sacred names something had ap¬ 
peared to him, he suddenly raised his eyes above his crucifix, 
fixing them apparently on some object which he seemed to 
regard with pleasure, and thus with a countenance all radiant 
with smiles, he expired without a struggle, as gently as if he 
had sunk into a quiet sleep. 

His two poor companions, after shedding many tears over 
his body, and having laid it out as he had directed, carried 
it devoutly to the grave, ringing the bell according to his 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


61 


injunction, and raised a large cross near it to serve as a mark 
for passers-by. 

When they talked of embarking, one of them, who for 
several days had been overwhelmed with sadness, and so 
racked in body by acute pains that he could neither eat nor 
breathe without pain, resolved, while his companion was pre¬ 
paring all for embarkation, to go to the grave of his good 
father, and pray him to intercede for him with the glorious 
Virgin, as he had promised, not doubting but that he was 
already in heaven. He accordingly knelt down, said a short 
prayer, and having respectfully taken some earth from the 
grave, he put it on his breast, and the pain immediately 
ceased ; his sadness was changed into a joy, which continued 
during the rest of his voyage. 


SECTION III. 

WHAT OCCURRED IN THE TRANSPORT OF THE BONES OF THE LATE FATHER 
MARQUETTE, WHICH WERE TAKEN UP ON THE 19 TH OF MAY, 1677 , THE ANNI¬ 
VERSARY OF HIS DEATH TWO YEARS BEFORE.—SKETCH OF HIS VIRTUES. 

God did not choose to suffer so precious a deposite to remain 
unhonored and forgotten amid the woods. The Kiskakon 
Indians,* who, for the last ten years, publicly professed Christi- 

* Of the Kiskakons little more is known than is here stated. They are, I 
think, first mentioned in a letter of F Allouez, in the Relation 1666-67. The 
name Kiskakon given in this narrative, and the Relation of 1673-79 is, I sup¬ 
pose, the longer name Kichkakoueiac of the Relation of 1672-73, which places 
them at that time near Sault St. Mary’s, the Hurons being then alone at Mack¬ 
inac. The last Relation (1673-79) states their number then at 1,300, all Chris¬ 
tians; they subsequently appear in collision with the Iroquois, but are soon lost 
sight of; if they have disappeared from the nations, it was not in their infidelity; 
many, we may trust, were faithful to the graces they received, and if they have 
melted away before our encroachments, it is a reason why we should bless the 
men who sought to save their souls without caring whether a century later any 



62 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


anity in which they were first instructed by Father Mar¬ 
quette, when stationed at Lapointe du Saint Esprit at the ex¬ 
tremity of Lake Superior, were hunting last wunter on the 
banks of Lake Ilinois; and as they were returning early in 
spring, they resolved to pass by the tomb of their good 
father, whom they tenderly loved ; and God even gave them 
the thought of taking his remains and bringing them to our 
church at the mission of St. Ignatius, at Missilimakinac, where 
they reside. 

They accordingly repaired to the spot and deliberated to¬ 
gether, resolved to act with their father, as they usually do 
with those whom they respect; they accordingly opened the 
grave, unrolled the body, and though the flesh and intestines 
were all dried up, they found it whole without the skin being 
in any way injured. This did not prevent their dissecting it 
according to custom ; they washed the bones, and dried them 
in the sun, then putting them neatly in a box of birch bark, 
they set out to bear them to the house of St. Ignatius. 

The convoy consisted of nearly thirty canoes in excellent 
order; including even a good number of Iroquois who had joined 
our Algonquins to honor the ceremony. As they approached 
our house, Father Houvel, who is superior, went to meet them 
with Father Pierson,* accompanied by all the French Indians 
of the place, and having caused the convoy to stop, made the 
ordinary interrogations to verify the fact, that the body which 

would exist to show the endurance of their labors. It has been justly remarked 
of the catholic missions that, “ they ended only with the extinction of the tribe.” 

* Father Nouvel was the Ottawa, and Father Pierson the Huron missionary. 
Each nation had its village apart, at a distance of three quarters of a league from 
each other. The church here spoken of was built apparently in 1674, while 
F. Marquette was there (Del. 1672-73, and 1673-79); it lay nearest the Huron vil¬ 
lage, which Hennepin thus describes: “It is surrounded with palisades twenty- 
five feet high, and situated near a great point of land opposite the island of 
Missilimakinac .”—Description de la Louisiane, p. 62. 


DISCOVERIES IN TIIE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 63 

they bore was really Father Marquette’s. Then, before land¬ 
ing, he intoned the “ De Profundis” in sight of the thirty 
canoes still on the water, and of all the people on the shores ; 
after this the body was carried to the church, observing all 
that the ritual prescribes for such ceremonies. It remained 
exposed under a pall stretched as if over a coffin all that day, 
which was Whitsun-Monday, the 8th of June; and the next 
day, when all the funeral honors had been paid it, it was de¬ 
posited in a little vault in the middle of the church, where he 
reposes as the guardian angel of our Ottawa missions. The 
Indians often come to pray on his tomb, and to say no more, 
a young woman of about nineteen or twenty, whom the late 
father had instructed and baptized last year, having fallen 
sick, asked Father Nouvel to bleed her, and give her some 
remedies; but in place of medicine he bade her go for three 
days and say a pater and ave on the tomb of Father Marquette. 
She did so, and before the third day, was entirely cured with¬ 
out bleeding or other remedies. 

Father James Marquette, of the province of Champagne, 
died at the age of thirty-eight, of which he had spent twenty-one 
in the society, namely twelve in France, and nine in Canada. 
He was sent to the missions of the upper Algonquins, called 
Ottawas, and labored there with all the zeal that could be ex¬ 
pected in a man who had taken St. Francis Xavier as the model 
of his life and death. He imitated that great saint, not only in 
the variety of the barbarous languages which he learned, but 
also by the vastness of his zeal which made him bear the faith 
to the extremity of this new world, nearly eight hundred 
leagues from here, in forests where the name of Jesus had 
never been announced. 

He always begged of God to end his days in these toilsome 
missions, and to die amid the woods like his beloved St. 


64 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


Francis Xavier, in utter want of everything. To attain this 
he daily employed the merits of Christ and the intercession 
of the Immaculate Virgin, for whom his devotion was equally 
rare and tender. 

By such powerful mediators, he obtained what he so earn¬ 
estly asked, since he had the happiness to die like the apostle 
of the Indies, in a wretched cabin on the banks of Lake 
Ilinois, forsaken by all. 

We could say much of the rare virtues of this generous mis¬ 
sionary, of his zeal which made him carry the faith so far, and 
announce the gospel to so many nations unknown to us; of 
his meekness which endeared him to every one, and which 
made him all to all — French with the French, Huron with 
the ILurons, Algonquin with the Algonquins; of his child¬ 
like candor in discovering his mind to his superiors, and 
even to all persons with an ingenuousness that gained all 
hearts, of his angelic purity and continual union with God. 

But his predominant virtue was a most rare and singular 
devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and especially to the mystery 
of the Immaculate Conception ; it was a pleasure to hear him 
preach or speak on this subject. Every conversation and let¬ 
ter of his contained something about the Blessed Virgin Im¬ 
maculate, as he always styled her. From the age of nine, he 
fasted every Saturday; and from his most tender youth began 
to recite daily the little office of the Conception, and inspired 
all to adopt this devotion. For some months before his death, 
he daily recited, with his two men, a little chaplet of the Im¬ 
maculate Conception, which he had arranged in this form; after 
the creed, they said one “ Our Father and hail Mary,” then 
four times these words: “Hail daughter of God the Father, 
hail mother of God the Son, hail spouse of the Holy Ghost, 
hail temple of the whole Trinity, by thy holy virginity and 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 65 

immaculate conception, O most pure Virgin, cleanse my flesh 
and my heart. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost,” and last of all the “ Glory he to the 
Father,” &c., the whole being thrice repeated. 

He never failed to say the mass of the Conception, or at 
least the collect, whenever he could; he thought of nothing 
else scarcely by night or by day, and to leave us an eternal 
mark of his sentiments, he gave the name of the Conception 
to the Ilinois mission. 

So tender a devotion to the mother of God, deserved some 
singular grace, and she accordingly granted him the favor lie 
had always asked, to die on a Saturday;* and his two com¬ 
panions had no doubt that she appeared to him at the hour of 
his death when, after pronouncing the names of Jesus and 
Mary, he suddenly raised his eyes above his crucifix, fixing 
them on an object which he regarded with such pleasure, and 
a joy that lit up his countenance; and they, from that mo¬ 
ment, believed that he had surrendered his soul into the hands 
of his good mother. 

One of the last letters which he wrote to the superior of the 
missions before his great voyage, will be a sufficient instance 
of his sentiments. It began thus:— 

“The Blessed Virgin Immaculate has obtained for me the 
grace to arrive here in good health, and resolved to corre¬ 
spond to God’s designs upon me, since he has destined me to 
the voyage to the south. I have no other thought than to do 
what God wills. I fear nothing; neither the Hadouessii, nor 
the meeting of nations alarms me. One of two things must 
come: either God will punish me for my crimes and omis¬ 
sions, or else he will share his cross with me (for I have not 

* In the devotions of catholics, Saturday among the days of the week, like 
May among the months, is especially set apart to honor her whom Jesus loved 
and honored as a mother. 


5 


66 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


borne it yet since I have been in this country, though, per¬ 
haps, it has been obtained for me by the Blessed Virgin Im¬ 
maculate), or perhaps death to cease to offend God. For this 
I will endeavor to hold myself ready, abandoning myself en¬ 
tirely in his hands. I pray your reverence not to forget me, 
and to obtain of God, that I may not remain ungrateful for 
the favors he heaps upon me.” 

There was found among his papers a book entitled, “The 
Conduct of God toward a Missionary,” in which he shows the 
excellence of that vocation, the advantages for self-sanctifica¬ 
tion to be found in it, and the care which God takes of his 
gospel-laborers. This little work shows the spirit of God by 
which he was actuated. 


NARRATIVE 


OF 

A VOYAGE MADE TO THE ILINOIS, 

BY 

FATHER CLAUDE ALLOUEZ* 


SECTION I. 

FATHER ALLOUEZ SETS OUT ON THE ICE. —A YOUNG MAN KILLED BY A 
BEAR.—VENGEANCE TAKEN.—VARIOUS CURIOSITIES ON THE WAY. 

W HILE preparing for my departure, as the weather was 
not yet suitable, I made some visits in the bay where 
I baptized two sick adults, one of whom died next day; the 
other lived a month longer; he was a poor old man, who 

* “ Father Claude Allouez, has imperishably connected his name with the 
progress of discovery in the west,” says Bancroft. Unhonored among us now, 
he was not inferior in zeal or ability to any of the great missionaries of his time. 
He is not, indeed, encircled with that halo of sanctity which characterizes the 
first Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries of New France, nor do his writings dis¬ 
play the learning and refinement which show in some the greatness of their sac¬ 
rifice ; but, as a fearless and devoted missionary, one faithful to his high calling, 
a man of zeal and worth, he is entitled to every honor. No record tells us the 
time or place of his birth. We meet hirn first as a Jesuit, seeking a foreign mis¬ 
sion. An entry in his journal has been preserved, in which, under the date of 
March 3d, 1657, he expresses his rapture on receiving permission to embark for 
Canada. That he was not led by any erroneous idea of the field which he solici¬ 
ted, we know by his own words. He sought only to labor and suffer; man can 
not command results, nor will his reward depend upon them. “To convert our 
barbarians, or savages, of Canada,” says he, “ we need work no miracle but that 



68 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ. 


being decrepit and half deaf, was the laughing stock and out¬ 
cast of all, even of his children; but God did not cast him 


of doing them good, and suffering without complaint, except to God, regarding 
ourselves as useless servants.” 

He sailed from France with two lay brothers in the vessel which took out the 
new governor Viscount d’Argenson, in 1658, and by the eleventh of July arrived 
safely at Quebec. Selected for the Algonquin missions, he soon after began the 
study of the Indian languages. In the following year he saw two of his order, 
Garreau and Druilletes, embark for Lake Superior, where Father Jogues and 
Father Raymbault had planted the cross seventeen years before, to continue the 
interrupted work; but one was killed, the other abandoned near Montreal. 
When made superior at Three-Rivers, in 1660, he saw his predecessor, the fear¬ 
less Rene Menard, depart for a distant goal, to die amid the rocks and woods 
of the Menominee, on his way to Green Bay. This field of toil and danger 
was still the object of Allouez’ desires. Destined to it in 1664, he reached Mon¬ 
treal, but the Ottawas had not come there as late as usual. He had now 
to wait another year; but, with him, time rolled not away in idleness; a 
thorough Algonquin, not unacquainted with Iroquois, objects of zeal were 
everywhere to be found. On the 14th of May, 1665, he again left Quebec to 
meet them; the “Angels of the upper Algonquins” at last arrive; for so in 
his desire does he call the brutal men whose cruel treatment of the previous 
missionaries would have appalled any heart not borne up by supernatural mo¬ 
tives. On the 7th of August, the flotilla finally started, and Allouez, after much 
suffering and ill-treatment, dauntlessly struggled on, and, by tbe first of Septem¬ 
ber, was at Sault St. Mary’s. Thrice had the Jesuits taken possession of that 
spot in the name of catholicity; it was not now to be a permanent centre. He 
did not stop here; he explored, in his frail canoe, the whole southern shore of 
the vast upper lake, whose icy waters contrast so strangely with the fantastic 
scenery of the shore, still marked by the traces of that terrible fire which shiv¬ 
ered its crags into a thousand forms, and poured the molten copper over them as 
if in mockery and sport. His first mission was at the Outchibouec (Ojibwa, or 
Chippeway) village of Chegoimegon. Here, in October, rose his chapel, dedi¬ 
cated to the Holy Ghost. Some Hurons and the Algonquin converts of Menard 
were already there; to increase the number of the faithful, Allouez entered the 
arena to struggle till death, with the wild superstition of the Ottawa. Ten or 
twelve lake tribes were assembled at once in council at the spot Pottawatomies, 
Sacs, Foxes, and even Hinois, swelled the numbers of those who gathered around 
that lone cross of the wilderness, with nations from the western sea, Dahcotahs, 
Assiniboins and Winnebagoes, with their Tartar dialect and thought. To all 
these he announced the intolerant faith of the cross, which required a total re¬ 
nunciation of their traditions, an unreserved acceptance of its dogmas. Each 
tribe departed with this first glimpse of truth, prepared to receive a clear 
development as time went on. And now came tidings that touched the heart of 
Allouez; on a lake north of Superior, were gathered some Nipissings, sad rem¬ 
nants of a once powerful tribe, but now like the Huron, Christians and fugitives be- 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


69 


out; he did him the grace to enrol him among his children 
by baptism, and to receive him into heaven, as I have every 
reason to believe. 

fore the face of the Iroquois. Menard died while seeking the Huron; but unap¬ 
palled by aught, Allouez hastened to their relief. Scarcely had he reached Chegoi- 
megon again, in 1661, when a flotilla was about starting for Quebec; he em¬ 
barked to secure companions, and explain to his superiors the vastness of the 
new field which he had seen, and of the still greater, but untried one which lay 
along the mighty “ Mes-sipi.” On the 4th of August he reached that city, the 6th 
embarked again for the west with the aid lie needed. Father Louis Nicholas, and a 
lay brother set out with him. Once in the west, he resumed his toils, as though 
returned from a voyage of pleasure, and struggled on another year at the lake. 
Then joined by Marquette and later by Dablon, he hastened to a new field. He 
mounted Fox river and laid the foundation of the mission of St. Francis Xavier. 
In 1611, the great council of the French commander, with the Indians, required 
the presence of the missionaries, and especially of Allouez, at the Sault St. Mary’s 
as interpreters. Nouvel was now superior of the western missions, and from him 
they received a new impulse. Of the three missionary stations now established, the 
Sault, Mackinaw, and Green Bay, the last was given to Allouez. In 1672, aided 
by F. Andre, he instructed the Foxes and Fire nation, and again ascended Fox 
River to Maskoutens to preach to the Maskoutens, Miamis, Kikapoos, and Ilinois, 
assembled there. As he descended, he threw down a rude, unshapely rock, 
honored at Kakaling by the adoration of the benighted Indian. The next year 
he was stationed at St. James, or Maskoutens, where he planted the cross as the 
limit of his discoveries and labors. They were not grateful for his toil, while 
superstition, and indifference almost neutralized his efforts. With the Fox and 
Pottawatomi, he was more successful. In the following years, he was assisted 
by F. Silvy and F. Bonneault, and met with greater consolations. 

On the death of Marquette, he was appointed to the Ilinois mission, and we 
now publish for the first time, the account of his journey. This visit was in 1676. 

Two years afterward, he repaired to it once more, and remained till the fol¬ 
lowing year, when on learning the approach of La Salle, he retired, as that 
great traveller had conceived a strong prejudice against him, in consequence of 
some correspondence between him and his fellow missionary on the Seneca 
country, Father Gamier. La Mothe, La Salle’s lieutenant, had even required 
the Seneca sachems to cause the latter to leave the lodge at a conference be¬ 
tween them. Allouez cared not to meet, in anger, La Salle, whom he had doubt¬ 
less known in France before, when he was a Jesuit like himself; he therefore re¬ 
turned to his missions in Wisconsin to wait till the mind of the gifted but irri¬ 
table explorer should recover from its false impressions. Unfortunately it proved 
the reverse, if some accounts are to be credited; La Salle implicated him in some 
efforts made by the western traders to excite the Ilinois against him. To clear 
Father Allouez of this charge, we need no better proof than the friendly relations 
between him and Tonty, than whom there was surely no man more faithful to 
the interest and honor of La Salle. Allouez went to Ilinois again in 1684, with 


70 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ. 


In another visit which I made to the nation of the Outa- 
gamies (Foxes), I baptized six children almost all at the point 
of death. I was much consoled to see a marked change in 
the mind of these people; God visits them by his scourges to 
render them more docile to our instructions. 

After these excursions, the time being proper for departing, 
I embarked about the close of October, 1676, in a canoe with 
two men to endeavor to go and winter with the Ilinois ; but I 
had not got far when the ice prevented us, so early had the 
winter set in. This obliged us to lie to and wait till it was 
strong enough to bear us ; and it was only in February that we 
undertook a very extraordinary kind of navigation, for instead 
of putting the canoe in the water, we put it on the ice, on 
which a favorable wind carried it along by sails, as if it was 
was on water. When the wind failed us, instead of paddles, 
we used ropes to drag it as horses do a carnage. Passing 
near the Pouteoiitamis, I learned that a young man had been 
lately killed by the bears. I had previously baptized him at 
Lapointe du St. Esprit, and was acquainted with his parents; 
this obliged me to turn a little off my way to go and console 
them. They told me that the bears get fat in the fall and re¬ 
main so, and even grow fatter during the whole winter, al¬ 
though they do not eat as naturalists have remarked. They 

Durantaye, when he probably remained for some time. He was there in 1687, 
when the survivors of La Salle’s last expedition reached Fort St. Louis, in 
Ilinois, but left for Mackinaw on the arrival of F. Anastasius Douay, and M. 
Cavelier, in consequence of their false report that La Salle was still alive. 
Father Allouez, however, still clung to his beloved Ilinois mission, which events 
had thus strangely disturbed; and I am inclined to think, from a deed which 
fell into my hands, that he was at Fort St. Louis, in the winter of 1689. If so, it 
was his last visit. A letter dated in August, 1690, details the virtues of the 
great and holy missionary of the west. He had gone to receive the reward of 
his labors. 

The authorities for his life are the superior’s journal, the Relations from 
1663-64 to 1671-72; MS. Rel. 1672-’7B, 1673-’79, 1678; MSS. of a Jesuit, in 
1690; Joutel and Tonty’s journals published in Hist. Coll, of Louisiana. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 71 

hide in hollow trees, especially the females, to bring forth 
their young, or else they lie on fir branches which they tear 
off on purpose to make a bed on the snow, which they do not 
leave all winter, unless discovered by the hunters, and their 
dogs trained to this chase. This young man having discov¬ 
ered one hidden in some fir-branches, fired all the arrows of 
his quiver at him. The bear feeling himself wounded, 
but not mortally, rose, rushed upon him, clawed off his scalp, 
and tearing out his bowels, scattered him all in pieces around. 
I found his mother in deep affliction ; we offered up together 
prayers for the deceased, and though my presence had at 
first redoubled her grief, she wiped away her tears, saying 
for consolation: “ Paulinus is dead; that good Paulinus 
whom thou didst always come to call to prayer.” 

Then to avenge, as they said, this murder, the relatives and 
friends of the deceased made war on the bears while they 
were good—that is, during the winter; for in summer they 
are lean, and so famished, that they eat even toads and snakes. 
The war was so vigorous, that in a little while they killed 
more than five hundred, which they shared with us, saying 
that God had given them into our hands, to make them atone 
for the death of this young man who had been so cruelly 
treated by one of their nation. 

Twelve leagues from the Pouteaoiiatami town we entered 
a very deep bay, whence we transported our canoe across the 
wood to the great lake of the Ilinois [Michigan]. This portage 
was a league and a half. On the eve of St. Joseph, the pa¬ 
tron of all Canada, finding ourselves on the lake, we gave it 
the name of that great saint, and shall henceforth call it Lake 
St. Joseph. We accordingly embarked on the 23d of May, 
and had much to do with the ice, through which we had to 
break a passage. The water was so cold, that it froze on our 
oars, and on the side of the canoe which the sun did not reach. 


72 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ. 


It pleased God to deliver us from the danger we were in on 
landing, when a gust of wind drove the cakes of ice on one 
side of our canoe, and the other on the ice which was fast to 
the shore. Our great trouble was, that the rivers being still 
frozen, we could not enter them till the 3d of April. "We 
consecrated that which we at last entered in holy week by 
planting a large cross on the shore, in order that the Indians, 
who go there in numbers to hunt—either in canoes on the 
lake, or on foot in the woods — might remember the instruc¬ 
tions we had given them on that mystery, and that the sight 
of it might excite them to pray. The next day we saw a rock 
seven or eight feet out of water, and two or three fathoms 
around, and called it the Pitch rock. In fact, we saw the 
pitch running down in little drops on the side which was 
warmed by the sun. We gathered some, and found it good 
to pitch our canoes, and I even use it to seal my letters.* 
"We also saw, the same day, another rock, a little smaller, 
part in and part out of water; the part washed by the water 
was of a very bright and clear red. Some days after, we 
saw a stream running from a hill, the waters of which seemed 
mineral; the sand is red, and the Indians said it came from a 
little lake where they have found pieces of copper. 

We advanced coasting always along vast prairies that 
stretched away beyond our sight; from time to time we saw 
trees, but so ranged that they seemed planted designedly to 
form alleys more agreeable to the sight than those of orchards. 
The foot of these trees is often watered by little streams, 
where we saw herds of stags and does drinking and feeding 
quietly on the young grass. We followed these vast plains 


* An American mineral, resembling asphaltum. It is of a brown color, in¬ 
clining to black, and sometimes so liquid that it flows in a stream down the 
sides of this rock.—F. 




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 73 

for twenty leagues, and often said, “ Benedicite opera Domini 
Domino.” 

After making seventy-six leagues on Lake St. Joseph, we 
at last entered the river which leads to the Ilinois. I here 
met eighty Indians of the country, by whom I was hand¬ 
somely received. The chief advanced about thirty steps to 
meet me, holding in one hand a firebrand and in the other a 
feathered calumet. As he drew near, he raised it to my 
mouth, and himself lit the tobacco, which obliged me to pre¬ 
tend to smoke. He then led me into his cabin, and, giving 
me the most honorable place, addressed me thus:— 

“ Father! take pity on me : let me return with thee, to ac¬ 
company thee and lead thee to my village; my meeting with 
thee to-day will be fatal to me, unless I profit by it. Thou 
bearest to us the gospel and the prayer: if I lose the occasion 
of hearing thee, I shall be punished by the loss of my neph¬ 
ews, whom thou seest so numerous, but who will assuredly be 
defeated by the enemy. Embark, then, with us, that I may 
profit by thy coming into our land.” 

With these words he embarked at the same time as our¬ 
selves, and we soon after reached his village. 


74 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ. 


SECTION II. 

FATHER ALLOUEZ ARRIVES AT THE ILINOIS TOWN.—DESCRIPTION OF IT AND 
THE COUNTRY.—THE FAITH PROCLAIMED TO ALL THESE NATIONS. 

In spite of all our efforts to hasten on, it was the 27th 
of April, before I could reach Kachkachkia, a large Ilinois 
town. I immediately entered the cabin where Father Mar¬ 
quette had lodged, and the sachems with all the people being 
assembled, I told them the object of my coming among them, 
namely, to preach to them the true, living, and immortal 
God, and his only Son, Jesus Christ. They listened very at¬ 
tentively to my whole discourse, and thanked me for the 
trouble I took for their salvation. 

I found this village much increased since last year. It was 
before composed of only one nation, the Kachkachkia. There 
are now eight; the first having called the others who dwelt 
in the neighborhood of the Missipi. You could not easily 
form an idea of the number of Indians who compose this town; 
they are lodged in three hundred and fifty-one cabins, easily 
counted, for they are mostly ranged on the banks of the river. 

The place which they have selected for their abode is situ¬ 
ated at 40° 42'; it has on one side a prairie of vast extent, 
and on the other an expanse of marsh which makes the air 
unhealthy, and often loaded with mists; this causes much 
sickness and frequent thunder. They, however, like this post, 
because from it they can easily discover their enemies.* 

* This and the position assigned to the town of the Kaskaskias (40° 42') would 
bring it near Rockfort, making allowance for the old latitude. When Father 
Marquette first visited it, he found seventy-four cabins: this was in 1673. The 
next year it had increased to five or six hundred fires, which, at the rate of 
four fires to a cabin, gives one hundred to one hundred and fifty cabins, with 
a population of two thousand men, besides women and children. Father Allouez 
visiting it now in 1677, is very exact, and gives the number of cabins as three 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


75 


These Indians are in character hardy, proud, and valiant. 
They are at war with eight or nine tribes; they do not use 
fire-arms, as they find them too awkward, and too slow; 
they carry them, however, when they march against nations 
unacquainted with their use, to terrify them by the noise, 
and thus rout them. They ordinarily carry only the war- 
club, bow, and a quiver full of arrows, which they discharge so 
adroitly and quickly, that men armed with guns, have hardly 
time to raise them to the shoulder. They also carry a large 
buckler made of skins of wild cattle; which is arrow-proof, 
and covers the whole body. 

They have many wives, of whom they are extremely jeal¬ 
ous, leaving them on the least suspicion. The women usually 
behave well, and are modestly dressed, though the men are 
not, having no shame of their nakedness. 

They live on Indian corn, and other fruits of the earth, 
which they cultivate on the prairies, like other Indians. They 
eat fourteen kinds of roots which they find in the prairies; 
they made me eat them; I found them good and very sweet. 
They gather, on trees or plants, fruits of forty-two different 
kinds, which are excellent; they catch twenty-five kinds of 
fish, including eels. They hunt cattle, deer, turkeys, cats, a 

hundred and fifty-one. In 1680, the Recollect Father Membre estimates the 
population of the great village at seven or eight thousand, in four or five hundred 
cabins — this did not include the Kaskaskias, whom he seems to place on the 
Chicago river. Hennepin, at the same time, estimates it at “ four hundred and 
sixty cabins, made like long bowers, covered with double mats of flat rushes, so 
well sowed as to be impenetrable to wind, snow, and rain. Each cabin has four 
or five fires, and each fire one or two families.”—(p. 137.) It would seem, then, 
that Bancroft rejects too lightly the estimate given by Father Rale, in the Lettres 
Edijiantes, where he estimates their number at three hundred cabins, each of 
four or five fires, and two families to a fire. When their decadence began, they 
disappeared with great rapidity. Charlevoix, in 1721, makes their number then 
to have been very inconsiderable, although he gives no estimate of the population 
of the Illinois, who still formed five distinct villages. At present, the remnant 
of the tribe does not comprise a hundred souls, yet all who remain are Christians. 


76 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER ALLOUEZ. 


kind of tiger, and other animals, of which they reckon twenty- 
two kinds, and forty kinds of game and birds. In the lower 
part of the river there are, I am told, salt springs, from which 
they make salt; I can not speak from my own experience. 
They assure me, too, that there are quarries near their town 
of slate as fine as ours. I have seen here, as in the Ottawa 
country, copper, found here as elsewhere, on the banks of the 
river in lumps. They tell me too, that there are rocks of 
pitch like that I saw on the banks of Lake St. Joseph. The 
Indians cut it and find silvery veins, which, when pounded, 
give a fine red paint. They also find other veins, from which 
the pitch runs; when thrown in the fire, it burns like ours. 

This is all that I could remark in this country, during the 
short stay I made there. I will now tell what I did for 
Christianity. 

As I had but little time to remain, having come only to ac¬ 
quire the necessary information for the perfect establishment 
of a mission, I immediately set to work to give all the instruc¬ 
tion I could to these eight different nations, by whom, by the 
help of God, I made myself sufficiently understood. 

I would go to the cabin of the chief of the particular tribe 
that I wished to instruct, and there preparing a little altar with 
my chapel ornaments, I exposed a crucifix, before which I 
explained the mysteries of our faith. I could not desire a 
greater number of auditors, nor a more favorable attention. 
They brought me their youngest children to be baptized, those 
older, to be instructed. They repeated themselves all the 
prayers that I taught them. In a word, after I had done the 
same in all the eight nations, I had the consolation of seeing 
Christ acknowledged by so many tribes, who needed only 
careful cultivation to become good Christians. This we hope 
to give hereafter, at leisure. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 77 

I laid the foundation of this mission by the baptism of 
thirty-five children, and a sick adult, who soon after died, with 
one of the infants, to go and take possession of heaven in the 
name of the whole nation. And we too, to take possession 
of these tribes in the name of Jesus Christ,-on the 3d of May, 
the feast of the Holy Cross, erected in the midst of the town 
a cross twenty-five feet high, chanting the Vexilla Kegis in 
the presence of a great number of Ilinois of all tribes, of 
whom I can say, in truth, that they did not take Jesus Christ 
crucified for a folly, nor for a scandal; on the contrary, they 
witnessed the ceremony with great respect, and heard all that 
I said on the mystery with admiration. The children even 
went to kiss the cross through devotion, and the old earnestly 
commended me to place it well so that it could not fall. 

The time of my departure having come, I took leave of all 
these tribes, and left them in a great desire of seeing me as 
soon as possible, which I more willingly induced them to ex¬ 
pect ; as, on the one hand, I have reason to thank God for 
the little crosses he has afforded me in this voyage, and on 
the other, I see the harvest all ready and very abundant. 
The devil will, doubtless, oppose us, and perhaps will, for the 
purpose, use the war which the Iroquois seek to make on the 
Ilinois. I pray our Lord to avert it, that so fair a beginning 
be not entirely ruined. 

“The next year, namely, 1678, Father Allouez set out to 
return to this mission, and to remain there two years in suc¬ 
cession, to labor more solidly for the conversion of these tribes. 
We have since learned that the Iroquois made an incursion 
as far as there, but were beaten by the Ilinois. This will go 
far to enkindle the war between these nations, and do much to 
injure this mission, if God does not interpose.”* 

* The concluding paragraph of this narrative is in the handwriting of Father 
Claude Dablon, the superior of the missions at the time. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 


OF 

THE “ETABLISSEMENT DE LA F 01,” 

BY 

FATHER CHRISTIAN LE CLERCQ , RECOLLECT. 

This curious and now rare work is the source whence all the following narra¬ 
tives, except Hennepin’s, are drawn. It was published at Paris, by Aimable 
Auroy, in 1691, with the following very comprehensive title: “First Establish¬ 
ment of the Faith in New France, containing the Publication of the Gospel, the 
History of the French Colonies, and the famous Discoveries from the Mouth of 
the St. Lawrence, Louisiana, and the River Colbert, to the Gulf of Mexico, accom¬ 
plished under the Direction of the late Monsieur de la Salle, by Order of the 
King, with the Victories gained in Canada, by the Arms of his Majesty over the 
English and Iroquois, in 1690. Dedicated to M. de Comte de Frontenac, Gov¬ 
ernor and Lieutenant-General of New France, by Father Christian le Clercq, 
Recollect Missionary of the Province of St. Anthony of Padua, in Arthois, and 
Warden of the Recollects of Lens.” 

Of Father le Clercq, under whose name the work is thus published, we know 
little beyond what we glean from this work, and from his Relation de Gaspesie. 
He was a zealous and devout missionary on the wild coast of Gaspe, where he 
lived in most cordial and friendly relations with the neighboring Jesuit mission¬ 
aries, especially with Father Bigot, who speaks of him in the highest terms, as 
le Clercq did of him and his labors. He was the first novice of the province to 
which be belonged, and one of the first religious sent by it to Canada, in 1675. 
After spending five years as missionary at Isle Percee and Gaspe, he returned 
to Europe, was concerned in the establishment of a church and mission at 
Montreal, resumed for a time his missionary career, and was subsequently em¬ 
ployed as superior in France. His Relation de Gaspesie is a description of his 
own field and his own labors; the Etablissement assumes to be a general history 
of religion in Canada, and of La Salle’s voyages, as tending to the establishment 
of missions. How far it realizes the promise of the title-page, we shall soon see. 

Had this work been a mere satirical pamphlet, we could at once understand 
it, and give it its proper value; but in this light it can not be regarded; it con¬ 
tains much historical information, especially with respect to La Salle, being the 


NOTICE ON FATHER LE CLERCQ. 


T9 


first printed account of his voyage down the Mississippi, and his last fatal at¬ 
tempt. A striking feature in the work is its literary skepticism, as to a great 
mass of early works on Canada, and the similar doubts raised subsequently as 
to the Etablissement itself. Le Clercq, or the real author, doubts the authen¬ 
ticity of the Relation of 1626, ascribed to F. Charles Lalemant. The ground of 
this doubt is completely destroyed by the title of one of the chapters in Sagard’s 
larger work; the doubt has, however, been raised within the last few years by 
men of research, though probably from want of a close study of the doubting 
humor of the author. Having thus thrown a slur on the first Relation, he next 
brings the whole forty volumes of Relations, from 1632 to 1672, into the same 
category, because, forsooth, from his high respect for the Jesuits, he can not be¬ 
lieve they ever wrote them ; and, finally, Father Marquette’s published journal, 
which is, however, never ascribed to him, is treated as an imposture, and his 
voyage as pretended, on every possible occasion. 

This wholesale skepticism almost entitles him to a place with the celebrated 
Father Hardouin, who believed all the Greek and Latin classics to be forgeries. 
In a work like this, intended to show the validity of Marquette’s claim, we 
must examine these doubts, and the person who makes them. Joutel, who con¬ 
tradicts the Etablissement pointedly in several places, says that it was com¬ 
posed on false relations, and thus gives some force to a charge brought in 1697, 
by the strange Hennepin, w r ho asserts broadly that the Etablissement was pub¬ 
lished by Father Valentine le Roux, under the borrowed name of le Clercq; and 
he charges that the so-called narrative of Membre in the work, is really a tran¬ 
script of the journal of his great voyage down the Mississippi, a copy of which 
he had left in le Roux’s hands at Quebec. At a still later date, when all had 
become calm, Charlevoix states it as a common impression that Frontenac him¬ 
self had a considerable hand in it. When with all this w r e remember that the 
first published narrative of Tonty is regarded as spurious, and that Mr. Sparks 
has irrefragably shown Hennepin’s later works to be mere romances and literary 
thefts; the whole series of works relative to La Salle seems drawn up or 
moulded to suit some party views, and to unravel the whole, we must examine 
what parties at the time agitated Canada. We find immediately that the civil 
and ecclesiastical authorities were then completely at variance, chiefly from two 
causes: The first was what may be called the brandy war, in which Bishop La¬ 
val seeing the injury done to the Indians by the sale of liquor, had pronounced 
ecclesiastical censures against those who carried on the nefarious traffic: his 
clergy, and especially the Jesuits, sided with him and his successor entirely on 
this point, as being better able from daily intercourse to see the ruin of the na¬ 
tive tribes by the use of spirituous liquors. But if the ecclesiastical authorities 
pronounced censures, the civil officers were not slow in taking up most curious 
modes of revenge; and ridicule, above all, was brought to play upon their an¬ 
tagonists. So far had public opinion become vitiated, that in a memoir drawn 
up apparently by the intendant Duchesneau with regard to the Indian village 
of Caughnawaga, the writer addressing the French court, deemed it necessary 
to defend the Jesuit missionaries against the charge of preventing the erection 
of any tavern on their lands at Laprairie, in the vicinity of their Indian village! 
The only defence made is more curious; it admits the fact, but denies the nece3- 


80 


NOTICE ON FATHER LE CLERCQ. 


sity of taverns there, as Montreal was full of them. In this brands war, the 
Jesuits being in charge of the missions, were chiefly attacked, and soon after a 
new charge was made against them personally. 2. Frontenac especially insisted 
that Indian villages apart would never result in civilizing the natives; his plan 
was a complete fusion of the two races, by bringing them into perfect contact. 
The missionaries convinced that Indians living among the whites were irrecov¬ 
erably lost, adhered pertinaciously to their original system of separate villages 
and gradual advancement. Frontenac’s theory is much upheld by the Etablisse- 
ment, and many arguments are adduced in favor of this plan which is assumed 
to be that of the early Recollects; but he startles us not a little, and somewhat 
unseats our gravity, when he tells us that it had been carried out with perfect 
success in the neighboring English and Dutch colonies; though, unfortunately, 
he does not tell us what New York or New England half-breed village resulted 
from the union. 

But to return to ancient politics. Religion was at that time upheld by pop¬ 
ular opinion; a man in rank or office had to practise his religious duties; in¬ 
deed, he never thought of not doing so. Now these duties in the catholic 
church are something very positive indeed, and many in Canada found them¬ 
selves under ecclesiastical censures for trading in liquor with the Indians, and 
saw no other alternative but that of renouncing a lucrative traffic, unless, in¬ 
deed they could find more lenient confessors. A party now called for the return 
of the Recollects as earnestly as they had opposed it, when they deemed them 
too expensive. Le Clercq states this ground of recall without a word of cen¬ 
sure ; the Recollects returned, became the fashionable confessors, and were 
stationed at trading points. In this way they became involved in existing dis¬ 
putes, and favored by and favoring Frontenac, found themselves arrayed in a 
manner against the rest of the clergy. A general charge made about the time 
seems to have been, that the Jesuits had really made no discoveries, and no 
progress in converting the natives. With this as a principle, it would not do to 
allow the discovery of the Mississippi to be ascribed wholly or in part to one of 
the missionaries of that society; hence a work dedicated to Frontenac must nat¬ 
urally be a eulogy of his ideas and his friends, and a well-directed attack on 
his enemies. It must be, and be expected to be, a party affair. When then we 
attack this work, it will be simply as to*these matters; in an historical point of 
view, as faithful to the documents on which it professes to be founded, it has, I 
believe, never been called in question. It is a well-written history of the Rec¬ 
ollect missions and La Salle’s voyages, the rest is satire. 

The work itself consists of three parts: the first in substance an abridgment 
of Sagard, for the first period of French rule in Canada, down to the capture of 
Quebec by 1629, contains some new facts derived from manuscripts, and es¬ 
pecially from those of the great le Caron, the founder of the Huron missions. 
The English carried off both the Recollects and the Jesuits whom they had in¬ 
vited to aid them; but as the restoration of Canada was expected, both pre¬ 
pared for a speedy return. For some reason, however, the French government 
determined to send out another missionary body, and offered Canada to the 
Capuchins, like the Recollects, a branch of the great Franciscan order. The 
Capuchins, however, declined it, and recommended the Jesuits, who were ac- 


NOTICE ON FATHER LE CLERCQ. 


81 


cordingly sent, and the Recollects excluded. This was their first grief, and the 
volume before ns details their unavailing efforts to return, and the suspicions 
entertained of opposition, or at least of lukewarmness, on the part of the Jesuits. 
They are, indeed, exculpated, but the charge is constantly renewed. With this 
on his heart, le Clercq proceeds to the second part, that of the Jesuit missions: 
and here he doubts the authenticity of all their Relations, and treats the mis¬ 
sions they describe as chimerical. In this pretended account of the progress 
of Christianity during the period in question, there is no historical order pre¬ 
served, no mention is made of the Huron missions, their rise and fall with the 
nation, and the death of the various missionaries whose last moments are a suf¬ 
ficient proof of their sincerity in the accounts which they had given. Of the 
Algonquin and Montagnais missions, and their almost entire destruction by sick¬ 
ness and war, no notice is taken; and what is said of the Iroquois is so garbled, 
that it were better unsaid. 

No missionary ever could have written this part; or, if he did, he must be 
content to rank below Hennepin. One instance will show the spirit of this por¬ 
tion. Speaking of the mission in New-York, in 1655-58, he mentions the fact 
that Menard, at Cayuga, baptized four hundred; and adds, “Christianity must 
have advanced each year by still more happy and multiplied progress, and con¬ 
sequently all these people must he converted .” Then, as he finds the mass of the 
Iroquois in 1690, as we find them in 1850, pagans, he concludes that the ac¬ 
counts of the missions are false. Now, in the first place, the period of mis¬ 
sionary effort in New York embraces only the periods from 1655 to 1658, and 
from 1667 to 1685; in all, not more than twenty years, with a few visits at in¬ 
tervals before and after these dates; in 1690, there was no missionary in New 
York save Father Milet, who had just been dragged to Oneida as a prisoner 
taken at Fort Frontenac. And as to baptisms, no fact is more clearly stated in 
earlv writers, the Relations, and all others, than this, that the baptisms were 
chiefly those of dying children and adults. Among the Iroquois there were, 
indeed, children of Christian Ilurons, who could be baptized in health, but only 
there. Hence the baptisms gave a very slight increase to the number of living 
neophytes, and in time of epidemics, a very great number might be baptized, 
and yet the church lose in point of numbers. To begin then by assuming that 
400 baptisms gave as many living members, and that ten times as many gave 
4,000 is a puerility in one who is not much acquainted with the matter, but a 
gross deceit in one who is. 

The second part then is not to be considered as historical; it notices, indeed, 
the coming of the Ursuline and Hospital nuns, of the Sulpitians and the bishop; 
but even for these we must go elsewhere for a clear account. 

The third part stands on a different footing; it is mainly historical, and 
though marked by the prevailing prejudice, and as we shall show by gross injus¬ 
tice to Marquette and Joliet, is, undoubtedly, the best account of La Salle’s 
voyages, and, for some parts, the only one we have. It is, too, an account of 
the rise and progress of the second Recollect missions, in a very brief form, 
which, with the mass of manuscripts of the time, gives rich materials for Cana¬ 
dian history. All that relates to La Salle is given in the present volume, for 
the first time, we believe, in English. The remaining portion of Le Clercq is, 

6 


82 


NOTICE ON FATIIER LE CLERCQ. 


as the title states, an account of the defeat of the English at Quebec, in 1690, 
by Frontenac, who had returned the previous year. 

Compelled by a love of truth to be somewhat severe on both le Clercq and 
Hennepin, we would by no means seem to reflect generally on the Recollects of 
Canada. The latter committed his forgeries when cast off by his province, the 
former was not, I believe, the author of the objectionable parts in the work 
that bears his name; that two hands were employed in it, will I think, appear 
to any one who will read it over attentively several times. That all the Rec¬ 
ollects should have been at the time under some prejudice is natural, owing to 
their position, and allowance is made for that, as we must daily make for those 
who can not judge of an individual without some attack on the church to which 
he belongs. Fortunately for all, the Recollects were soon relieved from their 
false position by the settlement of the disputes, and without attempting new 
Indian missions, labored for the good of the colony with a zeal beyond all 
praise. Chosen almost always as chaplains to the troops and forts, they were 
to be found at every French post, and thus became the earliest pastors of some 
of our western towns. Like the Jesuits, they were a second time excluded from 
Canada by the English on their conquest in the last century, and the last sur¬ 
vivor has long since descended to the grave. A few names, and a church that 
bears their name, are almost all that recall to the traveller the labors and merits 
of the children of St. Francis. 


NARRATIVE 


OF THE FIRST ATTEMPT BY 


M. CA VELLER EE LA SALLE 

TO 

EXPLORE THE MISSISSIPPI. 


DRAWN UP FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF FATHER ZENOBIUS MEMBRE, A 
RECOLLECT BY FATHER CHRETIEN LECLERCQ. 


T HE Sieur Robert Cavelier de la Salle, a native of Rouen, 
of one of the most distinguished families there, a man of 
vast intellect, brought up for literary pursuits,* capable and 
learned in every branch, especially in mathematics, naturally 

* La Salle, in early life, resolved to consecrate himself to God in a religious 
order, and entered the Society of Jesus. After passing ten years, however, teach¬ 
ing and studying in their colleges, he left them — for what reason is not now 
known — and came to Canada to build up his fortunes, for he had lost his 
inheritance by the unjust provisions of the French law. His previous seclu¬ 
sion from the world had, perhaps, but too well fitted him for conceiving vast 
projects, but totally disqualified him for their successful conduct; the minute 
details, the cautious choice of men, the constant superintendence required 
in a large establishment, were foreign to his character, and we shall, in the 
result, see in this the cause of all his misfortunes. Like many others, he 
thought of finding a way to China, and began some enterprise which resulted 
only in giving the name of Lachine to his trading-post near Montreal. The fur 
trade was the great means of wealth, and he next conceived the plan of a large 
trading monopoly on Lake Ontario, to be centred at Fort Frontenac; from that 
moment, however, he raised against him all the individual traders in the Indian 
country, and he was soon aware that this was no speedy road to wealth. His 



84 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBEE. 

enterprising, prudent, and moral, had been for some years in 
Canada, and had already, under the administration of De 
Courcelles and Talon, shown his great abilities for discoveries. 
M. de Frontenac selected him to command Fort Frontenac, 
where he was nearly a year, till coming to France in 1675, he 
obtained of the court the government and property of the lake 
and its dependencies, on condition of building there a regular 
stone fort, clearing the ground, and making French and In¬ 
dian villages, and of supporting there, at his own expense, a 
sufficient garrison, and Recollect missionaries. 

ideas now took a new turn, Joliet had returned to Canada, after exploring the 
Mississippi with Marquette, far enough to verify the supposition that it emptied 
into the gulf of Mexico. His accounts of the buffalo country, induced La Salle 
to believe that a very lucrative trade in their skins and wool might be opened 
directly between the buffalo plains and France by the Mississippi and gulf, with¬ 
out carrying them through Canada. To secure this was now his object. Joliet, 
who seems not to have been favored, was rewarded with a grant, not on the river 
he had explored, but at the other extreme of the French colony, the island of Anti¬ 
costi, and La Salle, who had secured Frontenac’s favor, obtained a royal patent, 
such as he desired. It was, however, provided, “ that he carry on no trade what¬ 
ever with the Indians called Ottawas, and others who bring their beaver-skins 
and other peltries to Montreal,” while to him and his company, the privilege of 
the trade in buffalo skins was granted.—(Vol. i., p. 35.) The private traders who 
had already visited the Illinois country, considered his including it in his grant 
as unjustifiable, and both in the west and at Quebec opposed him in every way, 
monopolies having always been objects of dislike. A variety of circumstances 
defeated his first plan in the Illinois country, in 1680, and no new discovery 
having been made by himself or Hennepin, he abandoned his first plan of de¬ 
scending the Mississippi in a vessel, and sailing thence to the isles, and resolved to 
examine the mouth in boats, and acquire such a knowledge of its position as 
would enable him to reach it direct from France by sea. He accordingly sailed 
down in 1682, and following the course of Marquette and Joliet, reached their 
furthest station on the 3d of March, then passing on, explored the river to the 
gulf, which he reached on the 9th of April, thus crowning the work of the 
former explorers, and with Hennepin’s voyage, tracing its whole course from the 
falls of St. Anthony to the sea. In pursuance of his plan he returned to France, 
and attempted to reach it by sea, but missed the mouth, and landing in Texas, 
perished in an attempt to reach the Illinois country by land. As a great but un¬ 
successful merchant, vast and enterprising in his plans, though unfitted by early 
associations from achieving them, he presents one of the most striking examples 
of calm and persevering courage amid difficulties and disasters. He rose above 
every adversity, unshaken and undiscouraged, ever ready to make the worse the 


( 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 85 

Monsieur de la Salle returned to Canada and fulfilled these 
conditions completely ; a fort with four bastions was built at 
the entrance of the lake on the northern side at the end of a 
basin, where a considerable fleet of large vessels might be 
sheltered from the winds. This fort enclosed that built by 
Monsieur de Frontenac. He also gave us a piece of ground 
fifteen arpents in front, by twenty deep, the donation being 
accepted by Monsieur de Frontenac, syndic of our mission. 

It would be difficult to detail the obstacles he had to en¬ 
counter, raised against him daily in the execution of his plans, 
so that he found less opposition in the savage tribes whom he 
■was always able to bring into his plans. Monsieur de Fron¬ 
tenac went up there every year, and care was taken to assem¬ 
ble there the chiefs and leading men of the Iroquois nations, 
great and small; maintaining by this means alliance and 
commerce with them, and disposing them to embrace Christi¬ 
anity, which was the principal object of the new establish¬ 
ment.* 

My design being to treat of the publication of the faith to 
that prodigious quantity of nations who are comprised in the 
dominions of the king, as his majesty has discovered them, 
we shall continue our subject by those which were made 
during the rest of the present epoch in all parts of Hew France. 

While the reverend father Jesuits among the southern Iro- 

better fortune. His life by Sparks, is one of the most valuable contributions to 
the early history of America. 

* Le Clercq, p. 119. The subsequent pages, down to page 131, relate to the 
religious affairs of the colony. The only reference to La Salle, is this on p. 127: 
“ Our reverend fathers having obtained of the king letters-patent for our estab¬ 
lishments at Quebec, Isle Percee, and Fort Frontenac, they were registered at 
the sovereign council of Quebec, and Monsieur de la Salle built, at his own ex¬ 
pense, a house on the land he had given us near the fort, in which a chapel 
was made. A fine church was afterward added, adorned with paintings and 
necessary vestments — also, a regular house and appendages, completed by the 
exertions of Father Joseph Denis.” 


86 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 

quois on the upper part of the river had the honor of bearing 
the gospel to the nations bordering on those tribes; the peace 
between the two crowns of France and England giving them 
free access everywhere, without being traversed by the Eng¬ 
lish, they announced the faith to the Etchemins, and other In¬ 
dian nations that came to trade at Loup river, where the or¬ 
dinary post of the mission was; our missions of St. John’s 
River, Beaubassin, Mizamichis, FTipisiguit, Ristigouche, and 
Isle Percee, were similarly supported — we continued to labor 
for the conversion of the Indians of those vast countries com¬ 
prized under the name of Acadia, Cape Breton and the 
great bay (gulf of St. Lawrence). 

In the time of M. de Courcelles and Talon, the discoveries 
were pushed toward the north bay (Hudson’s), of which 
something was known from two or three previous attempts. 
The sieur de St. Simon was chosen for the expedition, with 
the reverend father Albanes (Albanel), a Jesuit. By the 
maps of the country it is easy to see what difficulties had to 
be surmounted, how much toil and hardship undergone, how 
many falls and rapids to be passed, and portages made, to 
reach by land these unknown parts and tribes, as far as Hud¬ 
son’s bay or strait. M. de Frontenac was in Canada on the 
return of the party in 1672. This discovery thenceforward 
enabled them to push the mission much further to the north, 
and draw some elect from those distant nations to receive the 
first rudiments of Christianity, until in 1686, the victorious 
arms of the king, under the guidance of M. de Troye, D’Hi- 
berville, Ste. Helaine, and a number of brave Canadians, by 
order of the marquis d’Enonville, then governor-general of 
the country, conquered those northern parts where, as the 
Flench arms are still gloriously maintained, the zeal of the 
Jesuit fathers is employed in publishing the gospel. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


87 


The unwearied charity of those illustrious missionaries ad¬ 
vanced their labors with much more success during the pres¬ 
ent epoch, among the Ottawa nations, seconded by the great 
zeal of Frontenac’s protection, and the ascendant which the 
wisdom of the governor had acquired over the savages. A 
magnificent church, furnished with the richest vestments, was 
built at the mission of St. Mary’s of the sault; that of the bay 
of the Fetid (Green bay), and Michilimakinak island, were 
more and more increased by the gathering of Indian tribes. 
The missions around Lake Conde (Superior) further north, were 
also increased. This lake alone is one hundred and fifty miles 
long, sixty wide, and about five hundred in circuit, inhabited 
by different nations, whence we may form an idea of the la¬ 
bors of the missionaries in five or six establishments. Finally, 
in the last years of M. de Frontenac’s first administration, 
Sieur du Luth, a man of talent and experience opened a way 
to the missionaries and the gospel in many different nations 
turning toward the north of that lake, where he even built a 
fort. He advanced as far as the lake of the Issati, called 
Lake Buade, from the family name of M. de Frontenac, plant¬ 
ing the arms of his majesty in several nations on the right 
and left, where the missionaries still make every effort to in¬ 
troduce Christianity, the only fruit of which indeed consists 
in the baptism of some dying children, and in rendering 
adults inexcusable at God’s judgment by the gospel preached 
to them.* 

* The promise of a general account of discoveries made, and his praise of the 
Jesuit missionaries in the preceding pages, must excite contempt when we find 
them a mask for falsehood and concealment. Nothing here would lead the reader 
to suppose that Father Allouez and other missionaries had explored the country 
around Lake Superior for seven years prior to the coming of Frontenac; that an 
accurate map had been published by them, in 1672; that Father Marquette, after 
many disappointments, at last, with Joliet, descended the Mississippi far enough 
to be certain as to the sea into which it emptied. Yet the discoveries of Allouez 


88 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 

I shall hereafter limit myself to publish the great dis¬ 
coveries made by order of the king, under the command of 
M. de Frontenac and the direction of M. de la Salle, as being 
those which promised the greatest fruits for the establishment 
of the faith, if in course of time they are resumed and sup¬ 
ported as they deserve. 

The sieur de la Salle having completed the construction of 
Fort Frontenac, and greatly advanced the establishment of 
French and Indian settlements, was induced, by the report 
of many tribes, to believe that great progress could be made 
by pushing on the discoveries by the lakes into the river Mis- 
sisipi, which he then supposed to empty into the Red sea 
(gulf of California).* lie made a voyage to France in 1677, 

and the map are in the Relations which he elsewhere ridicules; the voyage of Joliet 
he must have heard of during his residence in Canada, and known as well as Hen¬ 
nepin who refers to it in his first work, even if we are to suppose him never to 
have read the work of his fellow-missionary, or Thevenot’s edition of Father Mar¬ 
quette’s journal. In his eagerness to ascribe no discovery to the Jesuits, he ac¬ 
tually sends Du Luth to Lake Issati before any of the missionaries. Was he 
there before Hennepin? 

* This assertion seems perfectly gratuitous, and is not justified by the letters 
patent to La Salle. Joliet’s return set the matter at rest, and left no doubt as 
to its emptying into the gulf. In this work, indeed, Marquette is never mentioned, 
and Joliet’s voyage decried, if not denied ; but in the first of the series of works 
on LaSalle, Hennepin’s “Description de la LounaruF (Paris, 1684), of which the 
printing was completed January 5th, 1683, that is but a few days after Mem- 
br6’s arrival with the account of La Salle’s voyage, the prior voyage of Joliet is 
admitted, and La Salle’s object thus stated : “Toward the end of the year 1678 
(1677), the sieur de la Salle came to France to report to M. Colbert the execu¬ 
tion of his orders; he then represented to him that Fort Frontenac gave him 
great opportunities for making discoveries with our Recollects; that his princi¬ 
pal design in building the fort had been to continue these discoveries in rich, 
fertile, and temperate countries, where commerce in the skins and wool of the 
wild cattle, called by the Spaniards Cibola, might establish a great trade, and 
support powerful colonies; that, however, as it would be difficult to bring 
these buffalo-hides in canoes, he prayed M. Colbert to grant him a commission to 
go and discover the mouth of the great river Mechasipi, on which vessels might 
be built to come to France; and that, considering the great expense he had un¬ 
dergone in building and supporting Fort Frontenac, he would be pleased to ~ 
grant him an exclusive privilege of trading in buffalo-skins, of which he brought 
one as a sample, and his request was granted.”—P. 14. 



i 


DISCO VEKIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 89 

and favored by letters from the count de Frontenac, obtained 
of the court necessary powers to undertake and carry out this 
great design at his own expense. 

Furnished w T ith these powers, he arrived in Canada toward 
the close of September, 1678, with the sieur de Tonty, an 
Italian gentleman, full of spirit and resolution, who after¬ 
ward so courageously and faithfully seconded him in all his 
designs. He had also with him thirty men — pilots, sailors, 
carpenters, and other mechanics, with all things necessary 
for his expedition. Some Canadians having joined him, he 
sent all his party in advance to Fort Frontenac, where Father 
Gabriel de la Ribourde, and Father Luke Buisset were al¬ 
ready, and where Fathers Louis Hennepin, Zenobius Mem- 
bre, and JVfelithon Watteau, now repaired. They were all 
three missionaries of our province of St. Anthony of Padua, 
in Artois, as well as Father Luke Buisset, his majesty having 
honored the Recollects with the care of the spiritual direction 
of the expedition by express orders addressed to Father Val¬ 
entine le Roux, commissary provincial, and superior of the 
mission. The sieur de la Salle soon followed them, the Al¬ 
mighty preserving him from many perils in that long voyage 
from Quebec, over falls and rapids to Fort Frontenac, where 
he arrived at last, much emaciated. Deriving new strength 
from his great courage, he issued all his orders and sent off 
his troop in a brigantine for Niagara with Father Louis, on 
the 18th of November. 

The navigation, in which they had to encounter many 
dangers and even disasters crossing the great lake in so ad¬ 
vanced a season, prevented their reaching Niagara river be¬ 
fore the 5th of December. On the sixth, they entered the 
river, and the following days, by canoe and land, advanced 
to the spot where the sieur de la Salle intended to raise a 


90 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 

fort, and build a bark above Niagara falls, whence the St. 
Lawrence (le Fleuve) communicates with Lake Conty (Erie), 
and Lake Frontenac (Ontario), by the said falls and river, 
which is, as it were, the strait of communication. 

A glance at the map will show that this project with that 
of Fort Frontenac, and the fort he was about to build at Niag¬ 
ara, might excite some jealousy among the Iroquois who 
dwell in the neighborhood of the great lake. The sieur de la 
Salle, with his usual address, met the principal chiefs of those 
tribes in conference, and gained them so completely that they 
not only agreed to it, but even offered to contribute with all 
their means to the execution of his design. This great con¬ 
cert lasted some time. The sieur de la Salle also sent many 
canoes to trade north and south of the lake among these tribes. 

Meanwhile, as certain persons traversed with all their 
might the project of the sieur de la Salle, they insinuated 
feelings of distrust in the Seneca Iroquois as the fort building 
at Niagara began to advance, and they succeeded so well 
that the fort became an object of suspicion, and the works 
had to be suspended for a time, and he had to be sat¬ 
isfied with a house surrounded by palisades. The sieur 
de la Salle did not fail to give prompt orders; he made 
frequent voyages from Fort Frontenac to Niagara, during 
the winter on the ice, in the spring with vessels loaded with 
provisions. In all the opposition raised by those envious of 
him, fortune seemed to side with them against him; the pilot 
who directed one of his well-loaded barks, lost it on Lake 
Frontenac. When the snow began to melt, he sent fifteen of 
his men to trade on the lake in canoes, as far as the Ilinois to 
prepare him the way, till his barque building at Niagara was 
completed. It was perfectly ready in the month of Au¬ 
gust, 1679. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


91 


The father commissary had started some time before from 
Quebec for the fort, to give the orders incumbent on his office, 
and put in force those expedited in the month of July, by 
which Father Gabriel was named superior of the new 
expedition, to be accompanied by Father Louis Hennepin, 
Zenobius Membre, and Melithon Watteaux, the latter to re¬ 
main at Niagara, and make it his mission, while Father Luke 
should remain at the fort. 

The three former accordingly embarked on the 7th of Au¬ 
gust, with Monsieur de la Salle and his whole party in the 
vessel, which had been named the Griffin in honor of the arms 
of Monsieur de Frontenac. Father Melithon remained at the 
house at Niagara, with some laborers and clerks. The same 
day they sailed for Lake Conty, after passing contrary to all 
expectations the currents of the strait. This was due to the 
resolution and address of the sieur de la Salle, his men 
having before his arrival used every means to no purpose. 
It appeared a kind of marvel, considering the rapidity of the 
current in the strait, which neither man nor animal, nor any 
ordinary vessel can resist, much less ascend. 

The map will show that from this place you sail up Lake 
Conty (Erie), to Lake Orleans (Huron), which terminates in 
Lake Dauphin (Michigan); these lakes being each a hundred, 
or a hundred and twenty leagues long, by forty or fifty wide, 
communicating with one another by easy channels and straits, 
which offer vessels a convenient and beautiful navigation. 
All these lakes are full of fish ; the country is most finely 
situated, the soil temperate, being north and south, bordered 
by vast prairies, which terminate in hills covered with vines, 
fruit-trees, groves, and tall woods, all scattered here and there, 
so that one would think that the ancient Homans, princes and 
nobles would have made them as many villas. The soil is 
everywhere equally fertile. 


92 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 

The sieur de la Salle having entered Lake Conty on the 
7th, crossed it in three days, and on the 10th reached the 
strait (Detroit), by vdiich he entered Lake Orleans. The 
voyage was interrupted by a storm as violent as could be 
met in the open sea; our people lost all hope of escape; but 
a vow which they made to St. Anthony, of Padua, the patron 
of mariners, delivered them by a kind of miracle, so that, 
after long making head against the wind, the vessel on the 
27th reached Missilimakinak, which is north of the strait, by 
which we go from Lake Orleans to Lake Dauphin. 

No vessels had yet been seen sailing on the lakes ; yet an 
enterprise which should have been sustained by all well- 
meaning persons, for the glory of God, and the service of the 
king, had produced precisely the opposite feelings and effects, 
which had been already communicated to the Hurons, the 
Outaoiiats of the island and the neighboring nations, to make 
them ill affected. The sieur de la Salle even found here the 
fifteen men, whom he had sent in the spring, prejudiced 
against him, and seduced from his service; a part of his 
goods wasted, far from having proceeded to the Ilinois to 
trade according to their orders; the sieur de Tonty, who was 
at their head, having in vain made every effort to inspire 
them with fidelity.* 

At last he weighed anchor on the 2d of September, and ar¬ 
rived pretty safely at the Bay of the Fetid (Green bay), at 
the entrance of Lake Dauphin, forty leagues from Missili¬ 
makinak. Would to God that the sieur de la Salle had con¬ 
tinued his route in the vessel. His wisdom could not foresee 
the misfortunes which awaited him; he deemed proper to 
send it back by the same route to Niagara, with the furs al- 

* La Salle’s sending them was a violation of his patent.—See Historical Collec¬ 
tions of Louisiana , vol. i., p. 35. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


93 


ready bought, in order to pay his creditors. He even left in 
it a part of his goods and implements, which were not easy to 
transport. The captain had orders to return with the vessel 
as soon as possible, and join us in the Ilinois. 

Meanwhile, on the 18th of September, the sieur de la Salle 
with our fathers and seventeen men, continued their route in 
canoes by Lake Dauphin, from the Pouteotatamis to the 
mouth of the river of the Miamis (St. Joseph’s), where they 
arrived on the first of November. This place had been ap¬ 
pointed a rendezvous for twenty Frenchmen, who came by 
the opposite shore, and also for the sieur de Tonty, who had 
been sent by the sieur de la Salle to Missilimakinak on another 
expedition. 

The sieur de la Salle built a fort there to protect his men 
and property against any attack of the Indians ; our religious 
soon had a bark cabin erected to serve as a chapel, where 
they exercised their ministry for French and Indians until 
the third of December, when leaving four men in the fort, 
they went in search of the portage which would bring them 
to the Seignelay (Ilinois), which descends to the Missisipi. 
They embarked on this river to the number of thirty or forty, 
by which after a hundred, or a hundred and twenty leagues 
sail, they arrived toward the close of December, at the largest 
Ilinois village, composed of about four or five hundred cabins, 
each of five or six families. 

It is the custom of these tribes at harvest-time to put 
their Indian corn in caches, in order to keep it for summer, 
when meat easily spoils, and to go and pass the winter in 
hunting wild cattle and beaver, carrying very little grain. 
That of our people had run short, so that passing by the 
Ilinois village, they were obliged, there being no one there, 
to take some Indian corn, as much as they deemed necessary 
for their subsistence. 


94 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


They left it on the 1st of January, 1680, and by the 4th, 
were thirty leagues lower down amid the Ilinois camp; they 
were encamped on both sides of the river, which is very nar¬ 
row there, but soon after forms a lake about seven leagues 
long, and about one wide, called Pimiteoui, meaning in their 
language that there are plenty of fat beasts there. The sieur 
de la Salle estimated it at 33° 45'. It is remarkable, because 
the Ilinois river, which for several months in winter is frozen 
down to it, never is from this place to the. mouth, although 
navigation is at times interrupted by accumulations of floating 
ice from above. 

Our people had been assured that the Ilinois had been ex¬ 
cited and prejudiced against them. Finding himself then in 
the midst of their camp, which lay on both sides of the river, 
at a narrow pass, where the current was hurrying on the 
canoes faster than they liked, the sieur de la Salle promptly 
put his men under arms, and ranged his canoes abreast so 
as to occupy the whole breadth of the river, the canoes 
nearest the two banks, in which were the sieur de Tonty, and 
the sieur de la Salle, were not more than half a pistol-shot 
from the shore. The Ilinois, who had not yet discovered the 
little flotilla ranged in battle order, were alarmed ; some ran 
to arms, others fled in incredible confusion. The sieur de la 
Salle had a calumet of peace, but would not show it, not liking 
to appear weak before them. As they were soon so near that 
they could understand each other, they asked our French¬ 
men, who they were. They replied that they were French, 
still keeping their arms ready, and letting the current bear 
them down in order, because there was no landing place till 
below the camp. 

The Indians alarmed and intimidated by this bold conduct 
(although they were several thousand against a handful), im- 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 95 

mediately presented three calumets; our people at the same 
time presented theirs, and their terror changing to joy, they 
conducted our party to their cabins, showed us a thousand 
civilities, and sent to call back those who had fled. They 
were told, that we came only to give them a knowledge of 
the true God, to defend them against their enemies, to bring 
them arms and other conveniences of life. Besides presents 
made them, they were paid for the Indian corn taken at their 
village; a close alliance was made with them, the rest of the 
day being spent in feasts and mutual greetings. 

All the sieur de la Salle’s intrepidity and skill were needed 
to keep the alliance intact, as Monsoela, one of the chiefs of the 
nation of Maskoutens came that very evening to traverse it. 
It was known that he was sent by others than those of his 
nation; he had even with him some Miamis, and young men 
bearing kettles, knives, axes, and other goods. He had been 
chosen for this embassy rather than a Miami chief, to give 
more plausibility to what he should say, the Ilinois not having 
been at war with the Maskoutens, as they had with the Mi- 
amis. He cabaled even the whole night, speaking of the 
sieur de la Salle as an intriguer, a friend of the Iroquois, 
coming to the Ilinois only to open the way to their enemies, 
who were coming on all sides with the French to destroy 
them ; he made them presents of all that he had brought, and 
even told them that he came on behalf of several Frenchmen 
whom he named. 

This council was held at night, the time chosen by the In¬ 
dians to transact secret business. This embassador retired 
the same night, so that the next day the Ilinois chiefs were found 
completely changed, cold and distrustful, appearing even to 
plot against our Frenchmen, who were shaken by the change, 
but the sieur de la Salle, who had attached one of the chiefs 


96 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 

to him particularly by some present, learned from him the 
subject of this change. His address soon dispelled all these 
suspicions, but did not prevent six of his men, already tam¬ 
pered with and prejudiced at Michilimakinak, from deserting 
that very day. 

The sieur de la Salle not only reassured that nation, but 
found means in the sequel, to disabuse the Maskoutens and 
Miamis, and to form an alliance between them and the Ilinois 
which lasted as long as the sieur de la Salle was in the 
country. 

With this assurance the little army, on the 14tli of January, 
1680, the floating ice from above having ceased, repaired to 
a little eminence, a site quite near the Ilinois camp where the 
Sieur de la Salle immediately set to work to build a fort, 
which he called Crevecoeur, on account of the many disap¬ 
pointments he had experienced, but which never shook his 
firm resolve. The fort was well advanced, and the little ves¬ 
sel already up to the string-piece by the first of March, when 
he resolved to proceed to Fort Frontenac. There were four 
or five hundred leagues to go by land, but not finding his 
brigantine, the Griffin, return, nor those he had sent on to 
meet her, and foreseeing the disastrous consequences of the 
probable loss of his vessel, his courage rose above the difficul¬ 
ties of so long and painful a journey. 

As he had chosen Father Louis, and as the latter had of¬ 
fered to continue the discovery toward the north, by ascend¬ 
ing the Missisipi, the sieur de la Salle reserving to himself 
its continuation in canoe by descending till he found the sea, 
Father Louis set out in canoe from Fort Crevecoeur on the 
29th of February, 1680, with two men well armed and equip¬ 
ped^ who had besides twelve hundred livres in goods, which 
make a good passport. The enterprise was great and hardy, 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


97 


although it did not equal the great zeal of the intrepid mis¬ 
sionary who undertook and continued it with all the firmness, 
constancy, and edification, which can be desired, amid incon¬ 
ceivable toils. 

Although the discovery had already been pushed four or 
five hundred leagues into Louisiana,* from Fort Frontenac to 
Fort Crevecoeur; this great march can be considered only 
as a prelude and preparation for enterprises still more vast, 
and an entrance to be made in countries still more advan¬ 
tageous. 

I have hitherto given only a short abridgment of the Rela¬ 
tions which Father Zenobius Membre gives of the commence¬ 
ment of this enterprise. Father Louis, whom we see starting 
for the upper Missisipi has published a description of the 
countries which he visited and into which he carried the 
gospel. I therefore refer my reader to it without repeating it 
here.f We have then only to describe what is most essential 
and important in this discovery conducted by the personal 
labors of the sieur de la Salle, in the subsequent years. 

* In fact no discovery had been made; the Ilinois country was visited by 
traders before Marquette’s second voyage to it, and was perfectly known; Al- 
louez, too, was there shortly before this, as La Salle himself states. 

f We prefer to interrupt Le Clercq’s narrative here, and insert the account 
published by Father Louis Hennepin, in 1684. 

7 


























, 




















BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 


OF 

THE WORKS OF FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN, 

A RECOLLECT OF THE PROVINCE OF ST. ANTHONY, IN ARTOIS. 

"We have already in the notice on Le Clercq alluded to the uncertainty which 
hangs around many of the works connected with the history of La Salle. In 
them, however, it was a question as to authorship, alterations made by pub¬ 
lishers, or the influence of party spirit in the original writers; against Hennepin, 
however, there is a still heavier charge. A good man may be so blinded by party 
zeal as to be unjust to others, and be guilty of acts which he would personally 
shrink from doing, and in this case we must, to attain the truth, realize fully the 
position of the antagonistic parties at the time. Such is peculiarly the case with 
Le Clercq, as we have shown, and in judging the work, we have endeavored to 
go back to his own period. 

The charge against Hennepin is, that he was vain, conceited, exaggerating, 
and even mendacious. To weigh so serious an accusation, we shall examine his 
several volumes, which, however, as will be seen, resolve themselves into two, 
published at an interval of fourteen years. It is the more necessary to enter 
into a full discussion of his merits as few works relative to America have 
been more widely spread than that of Hennepin. Published originally in 
French, it appeared subsequently in Dutch, English, Italian, and Spanish, and if 
1 am not mistaken in German ; and in a large class of writers is quoted with the 
commendation. It was, however, soon attacked. The editor of Joutel, in 
1713, calls it in question; but he was too ignorant of Canadian history to give 
his charge any weight. Severer strictures were passed upon it by Harris, and 
by Kalm, the celebrated Swedish traveller. Harris says, in vol. ii., p. 350, “As 
to the accounts of La Hontan, and Father Hennepin, they have been formerly 
very much admired, yet we are now well satisfied that they are rather ro¬ 
mances than relations, and that their authors had their particular schemes so 
much in view, that they have made no scruple of abusing the confidence of man¬ 
kind.” In this country, within the last few years a more thorough examination 
of authorities has consigned Hennepin,* La Hontan, and Lebeau, to that amiable 
class who seem to tell truth by accident and fiction by inclination. The works 
of Hennepin are, I. Description de la Louisiane, nouvellement decouverte au su- 
doiiest de la nouvelle France, par ordre du roy. Avec carte du pays, les moeurs 
et la manure devivre dessauvages, dedi6e a sa Majesty, par le R. P. Louis Hen- 

* N. A. Review for January, 1845, Spark’s Life of La Salle. 


100 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 


nepin, Missionare Recollet et Notaire Apostolique, pp. 312, and 107 Paris. 
Auroy, 1684. 

Charlevoix takes exception to the title of this work on the ground that he 
misapplies the name Louisiana, but in fact Illinois, from La Salle’s time, was in¬ 
cluded under that name. The title is, however, false in the words “ newly dis¬ 
covered to the southwest of Canada,” as no new discovery had been made in 
that direction, and the whole volume can show nothing in the way of new ex¬ 
ploration, beyond what had already been published in Europe, except of 
so much of the Mississippi as lies between the Wisconsin river and the falls of 
St Anthony, which he was the first European to travel. But let us enter on the 
volume itself, which, apart from any intrinsic faults, possesses considerable value, 
as being the first published, and by far the fullest account of La Salle’s first ex¬ 
pedition. Such it pretends to be, and accordingly opens with an account of that 
adventurer’s project of reaching China, his attempt with some Sulpitians, in 
1669, and his establishment at Fort Frontenac. Hennepin introduces himself to 
us, for the first time, on page twelve, as having established a mission at that 
fort with Father Luke Buisset; then mentions Joliet’s voyage down the Missis¬ 
sippi as far as the Illinois (Indians), which he represents as the work of La Salle’s 
enemies. Then follow the latter’s voyage to France, in 1677, his return the next 
year with an order for the author to accompany him in his discoveries, and his 
own voyage to Fort Frontenac, which he details as though it were his first 
trip to that place. At Fort Frontenac La Salle’s expedition begins, and our au¬ 
thor relates all that happened with great detail, and a vast profusion of nautical 
expressions, down to the building of Fort Crevecoeur, and his own departure 
from it, February 29th, 1680. His journal from this point being given in the 
present volume, we need not analyze it further than to say, that being sent to 
explore the Illinois to its mouth, in the Mississippi (p. 184), he reached that point 
on the 8th of March (192), and after being detained there by floating ice till the 
12th, continued his route, traversing and sounding the river. Then follows, not 
a journal of his voyage, but a geographical description of the upper Mississippi, 
from the Illinois river to Mille lake and the Sioux country. After this descrip¬ 
tion, he resumes his journal and tells us (p. 206), that he was taken by the Indians 
on the eleventh of April, after having sailed two hundred leagues (p. 218), from 
the Illinois (Indians). He was taken by them to their villages, relieved by de 
Luth in July, and returned to Mackinaw by way of the Wisconsin and Green 
bay. Thence, in the spring, he proceeded to the Seneca country, Fort Fron¬ 
tenac and Montreal His work contains, besides the journal given, only some 
account of the party he left at Fort Crevecoeur, from letters he saw at Quebec, 
and of La Salle’s descent to the gulf from others received by him in France. 
This is followed by an account of the manners of the savages (p. 107). 

Taking this volume by itself, the reader is struck by the unclerical character 
of the writer, his intense vanity and fondness for exaggeration. The manner in 
which he rises in importance, is truly amusing; not only does he, to all appear¬ 
ance, make himself the superior of the little band of missionaries in La Salle’s 
expedition, but even a kind of joint commander with La Salle himself. Take as 
a specimen the following passage, which we select the more readily, as it bears on 
his voyage to the Mississippi. Fort Crevecoeur was almost built, the Dauphin had 


THE WORKS OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


101 


Bent no tidings of her voyage, the men were discontented and mutinous, all was 
dark and gloomy around the exploring party in Illinois. “ We must remark,” 
says Hennepin, “that the winter in the Ilinois country is not longer than that in 
Provence; but, in 1679, the snow lasted more than twenty days, to the great 
astonishment of the Indians who had never seen so severe a winter, so that the 
sieur de la Salle and / beheld ourselves exposed to new hardships that will ap¬ 
pear incredible to those who have no experience of great voyages and new 
discoveries. Fort Crevecoeur was almost completed, the wood was all prepared 
to finish the bark, but we had not cordage, nor sails, nor iron enough ; we re¬ 
ceived no tidings of the bark we had left on Lake Dauphin, nor of those sent to 
find what had become of her; meanwhile the sieur de la Salle saw that summer 
was coming on, and that, if he waited some months in vain, our enterprise would 
be retarded one year, and perhaps two or three, because being so far from Can¬ 
ada, he could not regulate affairs, nor have the necessary articles forwarded. 

In this extremity we both took a resolution as extraordinary as it was difficult 
to execute, I to go with two men in unknown countries where we are every mo¬ 
ment in great danger of death, and he on foot to Fort Frontenac more than five 
hundred leagues distant. We were then at the close of winter, which had been, 
as we have said, as severe in America as in France; the ground was still cov¬ 
ered with snow, which was neither melted nor able to bear a man in snowshoes. 
He had to carry the usual equipment in such cases, that is, a blanket, pot, axe, 
gun, powder, and lead, with dressed skins to make Indian shoes, which last only 
a day, French shoes being of no use in the western countries. Besides, he had to 
resolve to pierce through thickets, march through marshes and melting snow, 
sometimes waist high, for whole days, at times with nothing to eat, because he 
and his three companions could not carry provisions, being compelled to rely for 
subsistence on what they killed with their guns, and to expect to drink only the 
water they found on the way. Finally he was exposed everyday, and especially 
every night, to be surprised by four or five nations at war with each other, with 
this difference that the nations through which he had to pass all know the 
French, while those where I was going had never seen Europeans. Yet all 
these difficulties did not astound him any more than myself; our only difficulty 
was to find some of our men stout enough to accompany us and prevent the rest 
already much shaken from deserting on our departure.” This is a remarkable 
passage, and has struck almost every writer on La Salle as their accounts often 
seem inspired by this graphic sketch of Hennepin. It is more than we said at 
first: Hennepin is here even greater than La Salle in the resolution he took at 
this trying crisis. After this we expect to see the two commanders depart on 
their dangerous expeditions, we run over the succeeding pages, the highflown 
language cools down, and we come to some details of La Salle’s appointment of 
Tonty to command, which, are followed by these matter-of-fact words, com¬ 
pletely destroying the delusion created by the preceding passage. 

“He begged me to take the trouble to go and discover in advance the route 
he would have to take as far as the river Colbert on his return from Canada, 
but as I had an abscess in my mouth which had suppurated constantly for a 
year and a half, 1 showed my repugnance , and told him that I needed to go back 
to Canada to have medical treatment. He replied, that if I refused this voyage, 


102 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 


he would write to ray superiors that I would be the cause of the failure of our 
new missions; the reverend father Gabriel de la Ribourde, who had been my 
novice master, begged me to go, telling me, that if I died of that infirmity, God 
would one day be glorified by my apostolic labors. ‘True, my son,’ said that 
venerable old man, whose head was whitened with more than forty years’ austere 
penance, ‘you will have many monsters to overcome, and precipices to pass, in 
this enterprise which requires the strength of the most robust; you do not know 
a word of the language of these tribes whom you are going to endeavor to gain 
to God, but take courage, you will gain as many victories as you have combats.’ 
Considering that this father had at his age been ready to come to my aid in the 
second year of our new discoveries, with the view of announcing Christ to un¬ 
known tribes, and that this old man was the only male descendant and heir of 
his father’s house, for he was a Burgundian of rank, I offered to make the 
voyage and endeavor to make the acquaintance of the tribes among whom I 
hoped soon to establish myself, and preach the faith. The sieur de la Salle 
showed me his satisfaction, gave me a calumet of peace, and a canoe with two 
men, one of whom was called the Picard du Gay, who is now at Paris, and the 
other, Michael Ako; the latter he intrusted with some merchandise fit to make 
presents, and worth ten or twelve thousand livres; and to myself he gave ten 
knives, twelve awls, a little roll of tobacco to give to the Indians, about two 
pounds of white and black beads, a little package of needles, declaring that he 
would have given me more, if he could. In fact, he is quite liberal to his friends. 
Having received the blessing of the reverend father Gabriel, and taken leave of 
the sieur de la Salle, and embraced all the party who came down to see us off, 
Father Gabriel concluding his adieu with the words, ‘ Viriliter age et eonfortetur 
cor tuum,’ we set out from Fort Crevecoeur on the 29th of February,” Ac. 

Can anything be more striking than the difference of these two accounts; in 
one he seems a leader, in the other, a reluctant member of the expedition ? 

But La Salle is not the only one sacrificed to his vanity. Delivered by de 
Luth from his Sioux captivity, he seems to lay that officer under great obliga¬ 
tions to him, and disposes of him so summarily, that the name of de Luth, after 
being only three times mentioned, disappears from his pages, and he seems to be 
the commander of the united parties. He passes by one Jesuit mission at Green- 
bay without mentioning its existence, winters at another at Mackinaw, not only 
without uttering a word to induce us to suppose a missionary there, but actually 
using expressions which give us the idea that lie was the only missionary to be 
found in all those parts, to minister to the Christians and instruct the heathen. 
When he leaves Mackinaw, in April, 1681, our Recollect rises still higher in im¬ 
portance ; he is fired at the wrongs of an Ottawa chief, and apparently consider¬ 
ing it beneath him to look for La Salle, or give him any account of the expedi¬ 
tion on which he had been sent, proceeds to the Seneca country, convenes a 
council, compels that haughty tribe to make amends to the injured Ottawa, and 
returns to Fort Frontenac, after this somewhat curious proceeding in a good friar 
who never meddled in civil affairs, as some other people did. He crowns the whole 
by telling us at the close of the volume, that La Salle descended to the gulfj “ as I 
had made peace with the nations of the north and northwest, five hundred leagues 
up the river Colbert, who made war on the Ilinois and southern tribes.” 


THE WORKS OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


103 


This is enough to show to what extent even then he pushed his self-glorifi¬ 
cation. As to the object of his expedition, we are completely in the dark; we 
can not tell whether he was sent to explore the Illinois to its mouth, or to open 
intercourse with some tribe or tribes, where it was intended to begin a mission. 
At all events, he says nothing of having been sent up the Mississippi; but what¬ 
ever was his mission, he seems to have so well avoided La Salle, that they never 
met again. Hennepin hastened back to France, and by the 3d of September, 
1682, had the royal permission to print his work, which issued from the press on 
the 5th of January, 1683, though most copies have on the titlepage the date 
1684. He was then for a time, it would seem, at Chateau Cambrensis, till or¬ 
dered by his superiors to return to America; this he refused, and was in conse¬ 
quence compelled to leave France. Falling in with Mr. Blaithwait, secretary of 
war to William III., he passed to the service of the English king, as a Spanish 
subject, by permission of his own sovereign and his clerical superiors, as he 
avers. He assumed a lay dress in a convent at Antwerp, and proceeding to 
Utrecht, published in 1697, a new work entitled— 

II. “Nouvelle description d’un tres grand pays situe dans l’Amerique entre le 
nouveau Mexique et la mer glaciale,” reprinted the next year as “Nouvelle Decou- 
verte d’un pays plus grandque l’Europe,” a translation of which appeared in 
England, in 1699, entitled: “A new discovery of a vast country in America, ex¬ 
tending above four thousand miles between New France and New Mexico.” 

Tliis work begins with his own personal history, and from it we derive the 
following data for a life of this worthy, should any one deem it worth while to 
attempt it. He was born at Ath, in Hainault, and feeling a strong inclination to 
retire from the world, entered the order of St. Francis. He was soon seized 
with a desire of rambling; and while studying Dutch at Ghent, was strongly 
tempted to go to the East Indies, but was appeased by a tour through the Fran¬ 
ciscan convents of Italy and Germany, back to Hainault, where, for a whole 
year, he was compelled to discharge the ministry. This year of permanent resi¬ 
dence in one spot seems to have been an epoch in his erratic life. He next 
roamed to Artois, thence set out to beg at Calais, returned by Dunkirk to Dies, 
and after sauntering through several Dutch towns, spent eight months at Mae- 
stricht, in the care of an hospital, where acquiring some military ardor, he was 
next an army chaplain at the battle of Senef (1674), immediately after which 
he was sent to Rochelle to embark for Canada. A convent life was, it is clear, 
irksome to him, and how little he was sensible of the dignity of the priesthood, 
either before God or man, we may judge by this extraordinary admission: “I 
used oftentimes to skulk behind the doors of victualling houses, to hear the sea¬ 
men give an account of their adventures. This occupation was so agree¬ 

able to me, that [despite, he tells us, the nausea caused by their smoking] I spent 
whole days and nights at it without eating.” Arrived in Canada, he preached 
the Advent and Lent to the hospital nuns at Quebec, being chosen by Bishop 
Laval, whose favor he had secured on the voyage by a display of zeal which by 
a train of incidents drew on him all La Salle’s enmity. This brings him to 1676, 
when after rambling around Quebec, as far as Three-Rivers, he was sent to Fort 
Frontenac, with Father Buisset to direct the Indians gathered there. This now 
became the centre of new rambles, which he extended to the cantons of the 



104 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 


Five Nations, visiting Onondaga, Oneida, and the Mohawk, in the last of which 
while entertained by the Jesuit missionary (probably Father Bruyas), he copied 
his Iroquois dictionary, for in this work, as if to spite his former friends, he men¬ 
tions those missionaries in several places with terms of praise. He then visits 
Albany, and though entreated by the Dutch to stay, returned to Fort Frontenac. 
In 1678, he went down to Quebec, and soon after his arrival received orders to 
join La Salle’s expedition. From this point his journal rolls on as in the “De¬ 
scription de la Louisiane,” down to the 12th of March, 1680, till which day he 
was detained by the floating ice, but here a new scene breaks on the startled 
reader: Hennepin tells us, that he actually went down the Mississippi to the 
gulf, but had not published the fact to avoid the hostility of LaSalle. Amazed at 
so unexpected a revelation, we read on carefully, but find that he waited till the 
twelfth, yet started on the eighth, being consequently in two places at once, 
each moment during those four days; thus aided, he reached the mouth of the 
Mississippi by the twenth-fifth, or at most, twenty-sixth of March, after cele¬ 
brating, on the 23d of March, the festival of Easter which, unfortunately for his 
accuracy, fell that year on the 21st of April, as he himself knew, for in his 
former work (p. 242), he states that he reached the Issati village about Easter, 
which, in his loose style, means some days after it. But to return to his voyage 
down, achieved in thirteen, or at most, eighteen days; he planted a cross and 
wished to wait a few days to make observations, but his men refused, and he 
was compelled to embark again. They did wait, however, some days it seems, 
for he started only on the first of April; by the twenty-fourth, he had reached 
and left the Arkansas, as he tells us in two different places (pp. 129, 137), and 
ascending toward the Illinois, advanced only by night for fear of a surprise by 
the French of Fort Crevecoeur. By the twelfth of the same month of April, 
being twelve days before he reached the Arkansas, he was taken by the Sioux a 
hundred and fifty leagues above the mouth of the Illinois, making all that dis¬ 
tance from the gulf in eleven days, and the distance from the Arkansas, in con¬ 
siderably less than no time at all. 

From this point, it continues with but occasional variations, as in the De¬ 
scription de lo, Louisiane, except that de Luth appears more frequently down to 
their ascending the Wisconsin. 

The second part, or second volume, contains an account of La Salle’s last 
voyage, in which Father Anastasius is frequently cited; the subsequent part, 
from page 49 to 151, treats of the manners, and customs of the Indians, and 
their conversion, and then follows an account of the capture of Quebec, in 1628, 
by the English, and of the early Recollect missions. 

Two things in this volume at once meet us, the horrible confusion of dates, 
and the utter impossibility of performing the voyages in the times given. 
These objections were made at the time, but were stoutly met by Hennepin, al¬ 
though the former seems not to have been much attended to by him. He gives 
us, however, a dissertation on the variation of the needle, and the difference of 
time in Europe and America, which had confused him somewhat in his ideas, 
and prevented his accuracy in that point. As to the impracticability of the mat¬ 
ter, he denies it, averring that he had time enough and to spare, as a bark canoe 
can, if necessary, go ninety miles a day up stream! 


THE WORKS OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


105 


But a heavier charge was made when his new work was compared to the 
Etablissement de la Foi; his new journal down was but a set of scraps from that 
of Father Membre, and the reader may verify the truth of this charge by exam¬ 
ining the parallel passages given by the accurate and judicious Sparks, in his life 
of La Salle, or by comparing Membr6’s journal in this volume with the English 
Hennepin, or even with the abridgment of it in vol. i., of Historical Collections 
of Louisiana. Hennepin admits the similarity, and accuses le Clercq or le Roux, 
whom he asserts to be the real author, of having published as Membre’s, his, 
Hennepin’s journal, which he had lent to le Roux, at Quebec. Let us hear his 
own words: “But if I do not blame Father le Clercq for the honorable mention 
he makes of his relative (Membre), I think everybody will condemn him for his 
concealing the name of the author he has transcribed, and thereby attributing to 
himself (? Membre or le Clercq), the glory of my perilous voyage. This piece of 
injustice is common enough in this age.” 

Sparks, who has the honor of having completely exposed Hennepin, and “the in¬ 
justice common in that age,” which induced Hennepin, le Clercq, Douay, Joutel, 
and others, to endeavor to rob Marquette of the glory due to his perilous voyage, 
shows this pretext of Hennepin to be groundless. We might stop to examine it, 
if only here he had copied le Clercq; but, on examination, we find that almost 
all the additional matter in the Nouvclle Dccouverte is drawn from the Etablisse - 
merit de la Foi , and almost literally. This is the case with the whole second 
part, where, though he cites Father Anastasius, he copies the remarks of the 
author of the Etablissement. What relates to the Indians is full of extracts from 
the latter work, and the capture of Quebec, and the early missions are mere 
copies. In the edition of 1720, which Charlevoix calls the second, and, perhaps, 
in some previous edition the amount of stolen matter is still larger; but some 
was of such a nature as to bring ecclesiastical censure on the work. For, strange 
as it may seem, Hennepin residing unfrocked in Holland, the flatterer and pen¬ 
sioner of William III., seems to have remained a Catholic and Franciscan to the 
last; at least I have seen nothing to establish the contrary. Had interest or 
ambition been his only motive, he would certainly have thrown off both titles 
at a time when the frenzy of religious animosity possessed the English public. 

But while doing him this justice, that he does not seem to have been led by 
interest or ambition of place, while admitting that many of his descriptions are 
graphic, and to some extent reliable, w r e say all that can be said in his favor. 
Where in the main fact he is supported by others, we have followed him with 
caution in details, but we must admit that the charges brought against him are 
too well substantiated to allow us hesitate as to his character. 

A question still remains as to what he really did do on leaving Fort Creve- 
coeur. In his first work, as we have already remarked, he states that he was 
sent to explore the Illinois to its mouth, or to visit some tribes where a mission 
was to be established ; and he tells us that he had some design of going down 
the Mississippi to the gulf, but he nowhere says that he ascended it before he 
was taken. In the last, he was sent to the Mississippi, and the tribes on it to 
get the friendship of the nations inhabiting its banks, and as he tells us he went 
down. In both, at a very late period, he tells us that La Salle promised to send 
him further supplies at the mouth of the Wisconsin. 


106 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. 


In neither have we any journal of his voyage up the river; the geographical 
description is not that of a traveller ascending, as he describes first what he saw 
last; and though voyaging with Sioux, gives the Wisconsin the same name as 
Marquette, who reached it through the Outagamis. What then did he do be¬ 
tween March 12th, and April 12th? This must remain a mystery. That he 
went down to the gulf, is too absurd to be received for a moment; that he went 
up is nowhere asserted by him, and is, I think, very doubtful. For my own 
part, I should rather believe that he was taken in an attempt to descend, or in 
some way acting contrary to the directions of La Salle. His evident avoiding 
of the latter is suspicious, and shows that he could not give a satisfactory ac¬ 
count of his proceedings; for wintering at Mackinaw, he must have known that 
La Salle had passed out to rejoin them at Fort Cr&vecoeur, and that his own 
companions had been compelled to leave the fort, and were then at Green bay.* 
Then, too, as to his description of the upper Mississippi, I am inclined to think 
it due to de Luth, who, as le Clercq tells us, was the first to reach the lake of 
the Issatis, and open the way to the missionaries; this seems more probable as in 
his last work Hennepin attacks de Luth, and endeavors to destroy the credit, as 
though de Luth could and, perhaps, did tell another story. It will, therefore, 
be a matter of interest to learn whether any reports of his are still to be found, 
as the mere fact of Hennepin’s attacking him gives them considerable value. 

In the meantime Hennepin’s account of the upper Mississippi must stand as 
first published, though we can not tell how much of it he really saw; standing 
on its own merits, it is an account which the first American explorers of the 
upper river compared as they went along, and found sufficiently accurate in one 
who could only guess at the various distances which he had to mention. As a 
valuable paper connected with the discoveries of the Mississippi, we insert it 
here, regretting our inability to give in justice a more flattering portrait of the 
writer. 

x Hennepin left Mackinaw on Easter week, 1681 (April 6-13), and F. Membre arrived there on 
the 13th of June, and La Salle from Illinois, about the fifteenth. On Vol. I., p. 59, of this series, 
there is a typographical error Fete Dieu, in October, should be Octave of Corpus Christi, being 
that year June 13th. 


NARRATIVE 


OF THE VOYAGE 

TO THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI, 

BY 

FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN. 

> * 

FROM HIS “ DESCRIPTION DE LA LOUISIANE,” PRINTED AT PARIS. IN 1683. 


W E set out from Fort Crevecceur the 29th of February, 
1680, and toward evening, while descending the 
Seignelay [Ilinois], we met on the way several parties of 
Islinois* returning to their village in their periaguas or gon¬ 
dolas, loaded with meat. They would have obliged us to 
return, our two boatmen were even shaken, but as they would 
have had to pass by Fort Crevecoeur, where our Frenchmen 
would have stopped them, w T e pursued our way the next day, 
and my two men afterward confessed the design which they 
had entertained.f 

* We have retained Hennepin’s orthography of proper names throughout this 
narrative. 

\ Hennepin’s party, according to his account, consisted of himself and two 
men, Anthony Auguelle, commonly called the Picard du Gay, and Michael Ako. 
The latter was intrusted by La Salle with the goods, and is probably the sieur 
Dacan of some other writers, as Mr. Sparks informs me, that he saw manuscripts 
in which it was written d’Acau. Hennepin in the preface to the first part of the 
English volume, charges La Salle with having maliciously caused the death of 
one of his two companions, meaning Ako, as he represents the other to be alive. 


L.Z 13 



108 NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 

The river Seignelay on which we were sailing, is as deep 
and broad as the Seine, at Paris, and in two or three places 
widens out to a quarter of a league. It is lined with hills, 
whose sides are covered with fine large trees. Some ot these 
hills are h*alf a league apart, leaving between them a marshy 
strip often inundated, especially in the spring and fall, but 
producing, nevertheless, quite large trees. On ascending 
these hills, you discover prairies further than the eye can 
reach, studded at intervals, with groves of tall trees, appa¬ 
rently planted there intentionally. The current of the river 
is not perceptible, except in time of great rains; it is at all 
times navigable for large barks about a hundred leagues, from 
its mouth to the Islinois village, whence its course almost al¬ 
ways runs south by southwest. 

On the 7th of March, we found, about two leagues 
from its mouth, a nation called Tamaroa, or Maroa, com¬ 
posed of two hundred familes. They would have taken 
us to their village west of the river Colbert (Mississippi), 
six or seven leagues below the mouth of the river Seigne¬ 
lay; but our two canoemen, in hopes of still greater gain, 
preferred to pass on, according to the advice I then gave 
them. These last Indians seeing that we carried iron and 
arms to their enemies, and unable to overtake us in their 
periaguas, which are wooden canoes, much heavier than our 
bark ones, which went much faster than their boats, despatched 
their young men after us by land, to pierce us with their ar¬ 
rows at some narrow part of the river, but in vain; for soon 
after discovering the fire made by these warriors at their 
ambuscade, we crossed the river at once, and gaining the 
other side, encamped in an island, leaving our canoe loaded 
and our little dog to wake as, so as to embark with all speed, 
should the Indians attempt to surprise us by swimming across. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 109 

Soon after leaving these Indians, we came to the mouth of 
the River Seignelay, fifty leagues distant from Fort Creve- 
coeur, and about a hundred from the great Islinois village. It 
is between 36° and 37° H. latitude, and consequently one 
hundred and twenty or thirty leagues from the gulf of Mexico. 

In the angle formed on the south by this river, at its mouth, 
is a flat precipitous rock, about forty feet high, very well suited 
for building a fort. On the northern side, opposite the rock, 
and on the west side beyond the river, are fields of black 
earth, the end of which you can not see, all ready for cultiva¬ 
tion, which would be very advantageous for the existence of 
a colony. 

The ice which floated down from the north kept us in this 
place till the 12th of March, when we continued our route, 
traversing the river and sounding on all sides to see whether 
it was navigable. There are, indeed, three islets in the mid¬ 
dle, near the mouth of the river Seignelay, w T hich stop the 
floating wood and trees from the north, and form several large 
sand-bars, yet the channels are deep enough, and there is 
sufficient water for barks; large flat-boats can pass there at 
all times. 

The River Colbert runs south-southwest, and comes from 
the north and northwest; it runs between two chains of 
mountains, quite small here, which wind with the river, and 
in some places are pretty far from the banks, so that between 
the mountains and the river, there are large prairies, where 
you often see herds of wild cattle browsing. In other places 
these eminences leave semi-circular spots covered with grass 
or wood. Beyond these mountains you discover vast plains, 
but the more we approach the northern side ascending, the 
earth became apparently less fertile, and the woods less beau¬ 
tiful than in the Islinois country. 


110 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


This great river is almost everywhere a short league in 
width, and in some place, two or three; it is divided by a 
number of islands covered with trees, interlaced with so many 
vines as to be almost impassable. It receives no consider¬ 
able river on the western side except that of the Otontenta,* 
and another, St. Peter’s,f which comes from the west north¬ 
west, seven or eight leagues from St. Anthony of Padua’s 
falls. 

On the eastern side you meet first an inconsiderable river 
(Bock river), and then further on another, called by the In¬ 
dians Onisconsin, or Misconsin, which comes from the east 
and east-northeast. Sixty leagues up you leave it, and make 
a portage of half a league to reach the Bay of the Fetid (Puants) 
by another river which, near its course, meanders most curi¬ 
ously. It is almost as large as the river Seignelay, or Ilinois, 
and empties into the river Colbert, a hundred leagues above 
the river Seignelay4 

* This would seem the Desmoines, the largest south of St. Peter’s, but the Iowa 
is not much inferior, and would better suit his description as being near half 
way between the Illinois and Lake Pepin. The name, too, would induce us to 
put it higher, as he doubtless means the tribe called by Membre Anthoutantas, and 
by Marquette on his map, Otontanta, the same as the former, if u and n are 
transposed. 

f The St Peter’s river flows through the centre of the Sioux territories, and is 
a magnificent river. It was visited by Le Sueur, the French geologist, as early as 
1688 {Hist. Coll. La., vol. iii.), and is very correctly described by him. It is re¬ 
markable for its mineral deposites, and the variety of clays found on its banks, 
which are employed by the Indians in painting their faces and bodies. Its waters 
are transparent, hence the Indian name of wate-paw-mene-saute, or clear water 
river. The Minokantongs, or people of the waters, are located about its mouth, 
and the Yengetongs, and the Sissitongs, inhabit the upper part of it (School¬ 
craft) ; their principal traffic is in buffalo-robes. The numerical strength of the 
Sioux nation is now estimated at about twenty-two thousand.—F 

% It must have been just here that he was taken by the Sioux, if he sailed up 
the Mississippi before his capture, for he had gone two hundred leagues after 
leaving the Illinois, who were one hundred leagues from the mouth of their river, 
and the other one hundred would bring him to the Wisconsin; though if he 
counts the hundred on the Illinois from the village proper, and not from the 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. Ill 

Twenty-four leagues above, you come to the Black river 
called by the Hadouessious, or Islati Chabadeba, or Cha- 
baaudeba, it seems quite inconsiderable. Thirty leagues 
higher up, you find the lake of Tears (Lake Pepin), which 
we so named, because some of the Indians who had taken us, 
wishing to kill us, wept the whole night, to induce the others to 
consent to our death. This lake which is formed by the 
River Colbert, is seven leagues long, and about four wide; 
there is no considerable current in the middle that we could 
perceive, but only at its entrance and exit.* Half a league 
below the lake of Tears, on the south side, is Buffalo river, full 
of turtles. It is so called by the Indians on account of the 
numbers of buffalo (bceufs) found there. W e followed it for 
ten or twelve leagues; it empties impetuously into the river 
Colbert, but as you ascend it, it is constantly calm and free 
from rapids. It is skirted by mountains, far enough off at 
times to form prairies. The mouth is wooded both sides, and 
is full as large as that of the Seignelay. 

Forty leagues above is a river full of rapids (St. Croix), by 
which, striking northwest, you can reach Lake Conde (Su¬ 
perior), that is, as far as Nimissakouat river,f which empties 
into the lake. This first river is called Tomb river, because the 

camp, we must go thirty leagues further, above Black river. But if captured 
here, how could it have taken the Indians, rowing from morning till night, nine¬ 
teen days to reach St. Anthony’s falls? 

* This beautiful sheet of water is an expansion of the Mississippi river, six 
miles below the Sioux village of Talangamanae, and one hundred below the falls 
of St. Anthony. It is indented with several bays and prominent points which 
serve to enhance the beauty of its scenery. A few miles below this lake, on the 
west bank of the Mississippi, are the remains of one of the most interesting and 
extensive of those ancient circumvallations, which are spread over the valley of 
the Mississippi. It was first described by Carver, in 1168.—F. 

f This is probably the St. Louis which, on the map of the Jesuit Relation of 
1670—’71 (Bancroft, vol. iii.), is marked as the way to the Sioux, sixty leagues 
west, being nearly the distance here given by Hennepin between Millelacs and 
Lake Superior. 


112 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


V 


Issati left there the body of one of their warriors, killed by a 
rattlesnake. According to their custom, I put a blanket on the 
grave, which act of humanity gained me much importance by 
the gratitude displayed by the deceased’s countrymen, in a 
great banquet which they gave me in their country, and to 
which more than a hundred Indians were invited. 

Continuing to ascend the Colbert ten or twelve leagues 
more, the navigation is interrupted by a fall, which I called 
St. Anthony of Padua’s, in gratitude for the favors done 
me by the Almighty through the intercession of that great 
saint, whom we had chosen patron and protector of all our 
enterprises. This fall is forty or fifty feet high, divided in 
the middle by a rocky island of pyramidal form.* The high 
mountains which skirt the river Colbert last only as far as 
the river Onisconsin, about one hundred and twenty leagues: 
at this place it begins to flow from the west and northwest, 
without our having been able to learn from the Indians, who 
have ascended it very far, where it rises. They merely told 
us that twenty or thirty leagues below (dessous), there is a 
second fall, at the foot of which are some villages of the 
prairie people, called Thinthonha, who live there a part of the 
year. Eight leagues above St. Anthony of Padua’s falls on 
the right, you find the Issati or bf adoussion river (Rum river), 
with a very narrow mouth, which you can ascend to the north 
for about seventy leagues to Lake Buade or Issati (Mille 
lake), where it rises. We called this St. Francis river. This 


* These celebrated falls, now no longer beyond the pale of civilization, have 
been much better described by modern travellers. Schoolcraft places them 
fourteen miles below the confluence of the Mississawgaeigon, or Rum river. The 
village of St. Anthony with its schools and its churches now occupies the east 
bank of the river at the head of the cataract. The scenery is picturesque and 
beautiful, but presents none of that majesty and grandeur which belong to the 
cataract of Niagara. The Indian name of these falls in the Sioux language, is 
Owah-menah, or the falling water.—F. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


113 


last lake spreads out into great marshes, producing wild-rice, 
like many other places down to the extremity of the Bay of the 
Fetid. This kind of grain grows wild in marshy places: it 
resembles oats, but tastes better, and the stems are longer as 
well as the stalk. The Indians gather it when ripe. The 
women tie several stalks together with white wood bark to 
prevent its being all devoured by the flocks of duck and teal 
found there. The Indians lay in a stock for part of the year, 
to eat out of the hunting season. 

Lake Buade, or Lake of the Issati (Mille lake), is about 
seventy leagues west of Lake Conde; it is impossible to go 
from one to the other on account of the marshy and quaggy 
nature of the ground; you might go, though w r ith difficulty 
on the snow in snowshoes ; by water it is a hundred and fifty 
leagues, on account of the many detours to be made, and 
there are many portages. From Lake Conde, to go conveni¬ 
ently in canoe, you must pass by Tomb river, where we found 
only the bones of the Indian whom I mentioned above, the 
bears having eaten the flesh, and pulled up poles which the 
deceased’s relatives had planted in form of a monument. One 
of our boatmen found a war-calumet beside the grave, and an 
earthen pot upset, in which the Indians had left fat buffalo 
meat, to assist the departed, as they say, in making his jour¬ 
ney to the land of souls. 

In the neighborhood of Lake Buade are many other lakes, 
whence issue several rivers, on the banks of which live the 
Issati, FTadouessans, Tinthonha (which means prairie-men), 
Chongaskethon, Dog, or Wolf tribe (for chonga among these 
nations means d^sr or wolf), and othei tiibcs, all which we 
comprise under the name T'Tadonessiou. These Indians num¬ 
ber eight or nine thousand warriors, very brave, great run¬ 
ners, and very good bowmen. It was by a part of these tribes 

8 


114 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN 


that I and our two canoemen were taken in the following 
way:— 

We scrupulously said our morning and evening prayers 
every day on embarking, and the Angelus at noon, adding 
some paraphrases on the Response of St. Bonaventure in honor 
of St. Anthony of Padua. In this way we begged of God to 
meet these Indians by day, for when they discover people at 
night, they kill them as enemies, to rob those whom they 
murder secretly of some axes or knives which they value more 
than we do gold and silver; they even kill their own allies, 
when they can conceal their death, so as afterward to boast 
of having killed men, and so pass for soldiers. 

We had considered the river Colbert with great pleasure, 
and without liinderance, to know whether it was navigable 
up and down: we were loaded with seven or eight large 
turkeys, which multiply of themselves in these parts. We 
wanted neither buffalo nor deer, nor beaver, nor fish, nor 
bear meat, for we killed those animals as they swam across 
the river. 

Our prayers were heard when, on the 11th of April, 1680, 
about two o’clock in the afternoon, we suddenly perceived 
thirty-three bark canoes, manned by a hundred and twenty 
Indians, coming down with extraordinary speed, to make 
war on the Miamis, Islinois, and Maroa. These Indians sur¬ 
rounded ns, and while at a distance, discharged some arrows 
at us; but as they approached our canoe the old men seeing 
us with the calumet of peace in our hands, prevented the 
young men from killing us. These brutal men leaping from 
their canoes, some on land, others into the water with fright¬ 
ful cries and yells, approached us, and as we made no re¬ 
sistance, being only three against so great a number, one of 
them wrenched our calumet from our hands, while our canoe 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 115 

and theirs were tied to the shore. "We first presented them a 
piece of French tobacco, better for smoking than theirs, and 
the eldest among them uttered the words Miamiha, Miamiha. 

As we did not understand their language, we took a little 
stick, and by signs which we made on the sand, showed them 
that their enemies, the Miamis whom they sought, had fled 
across the river Colbert to join the Islinois; when they saw 
themselves discovered and unable to surprise their enemies, 
three or four old men, laying their hands on my head, wept in 
a lugubrious tone. With a wretched handkerchief I had left, 

I wiped away their tears, but they would not smoke our 
peace-calumet. They made us cross the river with great 
cries, which all shouted together with tears in their eyes; 
they made us row before them, and we heard yells capable 
of striking the most resolute with terror. After landing our 
canoe and goods, part of which had been already taken, we 
made a fire to boil our kettle; we gave them two large 
wild turkeys that we had killed. These Indians having called 
an assembly to deliberate what they were to do with us; the 
two head-chiefs of the party approaching, showed us, by 
signs, that the warriors wished to tomahawk us. This com¬ 
pelled me to go to the war chiefs with one of my men, 
leaving the other by our property, and throw into their midst 
six axes, fifteen knives, and six fathom of our black tobacco, 
then bowing down my head, I showed them, with an axe, that 
they might kill us, if they thought proper. This present ap- • * 
peased many individual members, who gave us some beaver 
to eat, putting the three first morsels in our mouth according 
to the custom of the country, and blowing on the meat which 
■was too hot, before putting their bark dish before us, to let us 
eat as we liked; we spent the night in anxiety, because be¬ 
fore retiring at night, they had returned us our peace-calumet. 


/ 


116 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


Our two boatmen were, however, resolved to sell their lives 
dearly, and to resist if attacked ; their arms and swords were 
ready. As for my own part, I determined to allow myself 
to be killed without any resistance, as I was going to an¬ 
nounce to them a God, who had been falsely accused, unjustly 
condemned, and cruelly crucified, without showing the least 
aversion to those who put him to death. We watched in turn 
in our anxiety so as not to be surprised asleep. 

In the morning, April 12tb, one of their captains named 
Harrhetoba, with his face and bare body smeared with paint, 
asked me for our peace-calumet, filled it with tobacco of his 
country, made all his band smoke first, and then all the 
others who plotted our ruin. He then gave us to understand 
that we must go with them to their country, and they all 
turned back with us; having thus broken off their voyage, I 
was not sorry in this conjuncture to continue our discovery 
with these people. 

But my greatest trouble was, that I found it difficult to say 
my office before these Indians, many seeing me move my 
lips said, in a fierce tone, Ouackanche; and as we did not 
know a word of their language, we believed that they were 
angry at it. Michael Ako, all out of countenance, told me, 
that if I continued to say my breviary we should all three be 
killed, and the Picard begged me at least to pray apart, so 
as not to provoke them. I followed the latter’s advice, but 
the more I concealed myself, the more I had the Indians at 
my heels, for when I entered the wood, they thought I was 
going to hide some goods under ground, so that I knew not 
on what side to turn to pray, for they never let me out of 
sight. This obliged me to beg pardon of my two canoemen, 
assuring them that I could not dispense with saying my office, 
that if we were massacred for that, I would be the innocent 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 117 

cause of their death, as well as of my own. By the word 
Ouakanche, the Indians meant that the hook I was reading 
was a spirit; but by their gesture they nevertheless showed a 
kind of aversion, so that to accustom them to it, I chanted the 
litany of the Blessed Virgin in the canoe with my book open. 
They thought that the breviary was a spirit which taught me 
to sing for their diversion, for these people are naturally fond 
of singing. 

The outrages done us by these Indians during our whole 
route was incredible, for seeing that our canoe was much 
larger and more heavily laden than theirs (for they have only 
a quiver full of arrows, a bow, and a wretched dressed skin, 
to serve too as a blanket at night, for it was still pretty cold 
at that season, always going north), and that we could not go 
faster than they, they put some warriors with us to help us 
row, to oblige us to follow them. These Indians sometimes 
make thirty or forty leagues, when at war and pressed for 
time, or anxious to surprise some enemy. Those who had 
taken us were of various villages and of different opinions as 
to us; we cabined every night by the young chief who had 
asked for our peace-calumet, and put ourselves under his pro¬ 
tection ; but jealousy arose among these Indians, so that the 
chief of the party named Aquipaguetin, one of whose sons 
had been killed by the Miamis, seeing that he could not 
avenge his death on that nation as he had wished, turned all 
his rage on us. He wept through almost every night him he 
had lost in war, to oblige those who had come out to avenge 
him, to kill us and seize all we had, so as to be able to per- 
sue his enemies; but those who liked European goods were 
much disposed to preserve us, so as to attract other French¬ 
men there and get iron, which is extremely precious in their 
eyes; but of which they knew the great utility only when 


118 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


they saw one of our French boatmen kill three or four bus¬ 
tards or turkeys at a single shot, while they can scarcely kill 
only one with an arrow. In consequence, as we afterward 
learned, that the words Manza Ouackange, mean “iron that 
has understanding,” and so these nations call a gun which 
breaks a man’s bones, while their arrows only glance through 
the flesh they pierce, rarely breaking the bones of those whom 
they strike, and consequently producing wounds more easily 
cured than those made by our European guns, which often 
cripple those whom they wound. 

We had some design of going to the mouth of the river 
Colbert, which more probably empties into the gulf of Mexico 
than into the Bed sea; but the tribes that seized us, gave us 
no time to sail up and down the river. 

We had made about two hundred leagues by water since 
leaving the Islinois, and we sailed with the Indians who took 
us during some nineteen days, sometimes north, sometimes 
northwest, according to the direction which the river took. 
By the estimate which we formed, during that time (depuis 
cetemps la), we made about two hundred and fifty leagues, 
or even more on Colbert river; for these Indians row in 
great force, from early in the morning till evening, scarcely 
stopping to eat during the day. To oblige us to keep up with 
them, they gave us every day four or five men to increase the 
crew of our little vessel, which was much heavier than theirs. 
Sometimes we cabined when it rained, and when the weather 
was not bad, we slept on the ground without any shelter; this 
gave us all time to contemplate the stars and the moon when 
it shone. Notwithstanding the fatigue of the day, the } r oung- 
est of these Indian warriors danced the calumet to four or 
or five of their chiefs till midnight, and the chief to whom 
they went, sent a warrior of his family in due ceremonv to 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


119 


those who sang, to let them in turn smoke his war-calumet, 
which is distinguished from the peace-calumet by different 
feathers. The end of this kind of pandemonium was termin¬ 
ated every day by two of the youngest of those who had had 
relations killed in war; they took several arrows which they 
presented by the points all crossed to the chiefs, weeping bit¬ 
terly ; they gave them to them to kiss. Notwithstanding the 
force of their yelling, the fatigue of the day, the watching by 
night, the old men almost all awoke at daybreak for fear of 
being surprised by their enemies. As soon as dawn appeared 
one of them gave the cry, and in an instant all the warriors 
entered their bark canoes, some passing around the islands in 
the river to kill some beasts, while the most alert went by 
land, to discover whether any enemy’s fire was to be seen. 
It was their custom always to take post on the point of some 
island for safety sake, as their enemies have only periaguas, 
wooden canoes, which can not go as fast as they do, on ac¬ 
count of their weight. Only northern tribes have birch to 
make bark canoes; the southern tribes who have not that 
kind of tree, are deprived of this great convenience, which 
wonderfully facilitates the northern Indians in going from 
lake to lake, and by all rivers to attack their enemies, and 
even when discovered, they are safe if they can get into their 
canoes, for those who pursue them by land, or in periaguas, 
can not attack or pursue them quickly enough. 

During one of these nineteen days of painful navigation, 
the chief of the party by name Aquipaguetin, resolved to halt 
about noon in a large prairie; having killed a very fat bear, 
he gave a feast to the chief men, and after the repast all the 
warriors began to dance. Their faces, and especially their 
bodies, were marked with various colors, each being dis¬ 
tinguished by the figure of different animals, accoiding to his 


120 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


particular taste or inclination; some having their hair short 
and full of hear oil, with white and red feathers; others be¬ 
sprinkled their heads v r ith the down of birds which adhered 
to the oil. All danced, with their arms akimbo, and struck 
the ground with their feet so stoutly as to leave the imprint 
visible. While a son, master of ceremonies, gave each in 
turn the war-calumet to smoke, he wept bitterly. The father 
in a doleful voice, broken with sighs and sobs, with his whole 
body bathed in tears, sometimes addressed the warriors, 
sometimes came to me, and put his hands on my head, doing 
the same to our two Frenchmen, sometimes he raised his eyes 
to heaven and often uttered the word Louis, which means 
sun, complaining to that great luminary of the death of his 
son. As far as we could conjecture this ceremony tended 
only to our destruction ; in fact, the course of time showed us 
that this Indian had often aimed at our life ; but seeing the 
opposition made by the other chiefs who prevented it, he 
made us embark again, and employed other trickery to get 
by degrees the goods of our canoemen, not daring to take 
them openly, as he might have done, for fear of being accused 
by his own people of cowardice, which the bravest hold in 
horror. 

This wily savage had the bones of some important deceased 
relative, which he preserved with great care in some skins 
dressed and adorned with several rows of black and red por¬ 
cupine quills; from time to time he assembled his men to 
give it a smoke, and made us come several days in succes¬ 
sion to cover the deceased’s bones with goods, and by a pres¬ 
ent wipe away the tears he had shed for him, and for his own 
son killed by the Miami's. To appease this captious man, we 
threw on the bones several fathoms of French tobacco, axes, 
knives, beads, and some black and "white wampum bracelets. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 121 

In this way the Indian stripped ns under pretexts, which we 
could not reproach him with, as he declared that what he 
asked was only for the deceased, and to give the warriors. 
In fact, he distributed among them all that we gave him. 
By these feints he made us believe that being a chief, he took 
nothing for himself, but what we gave him of our own accord. 
We slept at the point of the lake of Tears, which we so 
called from the tears which this chief shed all night long, or 
by one of his sons, whom he caused to weep when tired him¬ 
self, in order to excite his warriors to comjiassion, and oblige 
them to kill us and pursue their enemies to avenge his son’s 
death 

These Indians at times sent their fleetest by land to chase 
the buffalo on the water side; as these animals crossed the 
river, they sometimes killed forty or fifty, merely to take the 
tongue, and most delicate morsels, leaving the rest with 
which they would not burthen themselves, so as to go on 
more rapidly. We sometimes indeed eat good pieces, but 
without bread, wine, salt, or other seasoning. During our 
three years’ travels we had lived in the same way, sometimes 
in plenty, at others compelled to pass twenty-four hours, and 
often more, without eating; because in these little bark canoes 
you can not take much of a load, and with every precaution 
you are, for most part of the time, deprived of all necessaries 
of life. If a religious in Europe underwent many hard¬ 
ships and labors, and abstinences like those we were often 
obliged to suffer in America, no other proof would be needed 
for his canonization. It is true that we do not always merit 
in such cases and suffer only because we can not help it. 

During the night some old men came to weep piteously, 
often rubbing our arms and whole bodies with their hands, 
which they then put on our head. Besides being hindered 


122 NARK ATI YE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 

from sleeping by these tears, I often did not know what to 
think, nor whether these Indians wept because some of their 
warriors would have killed us, or out of pure compassion at 
the ill treatment shown us. 

On another occasion, Aquipaguetin relapsed into his bad 
humor: he had so gained most of the warriors, that one day 
when we were unable to encamp near our protector Narhe- 
toba, we were obliged to go to the very end of the camp, the 
Indians declaring that this chief insisted positively on killing 
us. "We accordingly drew from a box twenty knives and 
some tobacco, which we angrily flung down amid the mal¬ 
contents ; the wretch regarding all his soldiers one after an¬ 
other hesitated, asking their advice, either to refuse or take 
our present; and as we bowed our head and presented him 
with an axe to kill us, the young chief who was really or pre¬ 
tend edly our protector took us by the arm, and all in fury led 
us to his cabin. One of his brothers taking some arrows, 
broke them all in our presence, showing us by this action, 
that he prevented their killing us. 

The next day they left us alone in our canoe, without put¬ 
ting in any Indians to help us, as they usually did; all re¬ 
mained behind us. After four or five leagues sail another 
chief came to us, made us disembark, and pulling up three 
little piles of grass, made us sit down; he then took a piece 
of cedar full of little round holes in one of which he put a 
stick, which he spun round between his two palms, and in 
this way made fire to light the tobacco in his great calumet. 
After weeping some time, and putting his hands on my head, 
he gave me his peace-calumet to smoke, and showed us that 
we should be in his country in six days. 

Having arrived on the nineteenth day of our navigation 
five leagues below St. Anthony’s falls, these Indians landed 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 123 

ns in a bay and assembled to deliberate about us. They dis¬ 
tributed us separately, and gave us to three heads of families 
in place of three of their children who had been killed in war. 
They first, seized all our property, and broke our canoe to 
pieces, for fear we should return to their enemies. Their own 
they hid in some alders to use when going to hunt; and 
though we might easily have reached their country by water, 
they compelled us to go sixty leagues by land, forcing us to 
march from daybreak to two hours after nightfall, and to 
swim over many rivers, while these Indians, who are often of 
extraordinary height, carried our habit on their head; and 
our two boatmen, who were smaller than myself, on their 
shoulders, because they could not swim as I could. On 
leaving the water, which was often full of sharp ice, I could 
scarcely stand; our legs were all bloody from the ice which 
we broke as we advanced in lakes which we forded, and as 
we eat only once in twenty-four hours, some pieces of meat 
which these barbarians grudgingly gave us, I was so weak 
that I often lay down on the way, resolved to die there, rather 
than follow these Indians who marched on and continued 
their route with a celerity which surpasses the power of the 
Europeans. To oblige us to hasten on, they often set fire to 
the grass of the prairies where we were passing, so that we 
had to advance or burn. I had then a hat which I reserved 
to shield me from the burning rays of the sun in summer, but 
I often dropped it in the flames which we were obliged to 
cross. 

As we approached their village, they divided among them 
all the merchandise of our two canoemen, and w T ere near kill¬ 
ing each other for our roll of French tobacco, which is very 
precious to these tribes, and more esteemed than gold among 
Europeans. The more humane showed by signs that they 


124 NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 

would give many beaver-skins for what they took. The rea¬ 
son of the violence was, that this party was made np from 
two different tribes, the more distant of whom, fearing lest 
the others should retain all the goods in the first villages 
which they would have to pass, wished to take their share in 
advance. In fact, some time after they offered peltries in 
part payment •, but our boatmen would not receive them, until 
they gave the full value of all that had been taken. And 
in course of time I have no doubt they will give entire satis¬ 
faction to the French, whom they will endeavor to draw 
among them to carry on trade. 

These savages also took our brocade chasuble, and all the 
articles of our portable chapel, except the chalice, which they 
durst not touch; for seeing that glittering silver gilt, they closed 
their eyes, saying that it was a spirit which would kill them. 
They also broke a little box with lock and key, after telling 
me, that if I did not break the lock, they would do so them¬ 
selves with sharp stones; the reason of this violence was that 
from time to time on the route, they could not open the box 
to examine what was inside, having no idea of locks and 
keys; besides, they did not care to carry the box, but only 
the goods which were inside, and which they thought consid¬ 
erable, but they found only books and papers. 

After five days’ march by land, suffering hunger, thirst, and 
outrages, marching all day long without rest, fording lakes 
and rivers, we descried a number of women and children 
coming to meet our little army. All the elders of this nation 
assembled on our account, and as we saw cabins, and bundles 
of straw hanging from the posts of them, to which these 
savages bind those whom they take as slaves, and burn them; 
and seeing that they made the Picard du Gay sing, as he 
held and shook a gourd full of little round pebbles, while his 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 125 

hair and face were filled with paint of different colors, and a 
tuft of white feathers attached to his head by the Indians, we 
not unreasonably thought that they wished to kill us, as they 
performed many ceremonies, usually practised, when they 
intend to burn their enemies. The worst of it was, too, that 
not one of us three could make himself understood by these 
Indians; nevertheless, after many vows, which every Chris¬ 
tian would make in such straits, one of the principal Issati 
chiefs gave us his peace-calumet to smoke, and accepted the 
one we had brought. He then gave us some wild rice 
to eat, presenting it to us in large bark dishes, which the In¬ 
dian women had seasoned with whortleberries, which are 
black grains which they dry in the sun in summer, and are 
as good as currants. After this feast, the best we had had for 
seven or eight days, the heads of families who had adopted 
us, instead of their sons killed in war, conducted us separately 
each to his village, marching through marshes knee deep in 
water, for a league, after which the five wives of the one who 
called me Mitchinchi, that is to say, his son, received us in 
three bark canoes, and took us a short league from our start¬ 
ing place to an island where their cabins were. 

On our arrival, which was about Easter, April 21st, 1680,* 
one of these Indians who seemed to me decrepit, gave me a 
large calumet to smoke, and weeping bitterly, rubbed my 
head and arms, showing his compassion at seeing me so fa¬ 
tigued that two men were often obliged to give me their 
hands to help me to stand up. There was a bearskin near 
the fire, on which he rubbed my legs and the soles of my feet 
with wild-cat oil. 

* This is somewhat vague; Easter Sunday, in 1680, fell on the 21st of April; 
he was taken on the 11th of April, travelled nineteen days in canoe, and five by 
land, which brings him to the 5th of May. He perceived this afterward, and in 
the English edition, he says, that he arrived some time in May; but he there 
falls into a worse error by putting Easter back to the 23d of March. 


126 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER IIENNEPIN. 


Aqnipaguetin’s son, who called me his brother, paraded 
about with our brocade chasuble on his bare back, having 
rolled up in it some dead man’s bones, for whom these people 
had a great veneration. The priest’s girdle made of red and 
white wool, with two tassels at the end, served him for sus¬ 
penders, carrying thus in triumph what he called Pere Louis 
Chinnien, which means “the robe of him who is called the 
sun.” After these Indians had used this chasuble to cover 
the bones of their dead, they presented it to some of their 
allies, tribes situated about live hundred leagues west of their 
country, who had sent them an embassy and danced the 
calumet. 

The day after our arrival, Aquipaguetin, who was the head 
of a large family, covered me with a robe made of ten large 
dressed beaver-skins, trimmed with porcupine quills. This In¬ 
dian showed me five or six of his wives, telling them, as I 
afterward learned, that they should in future regard me as 
one of their children. He set before me a bark dish full of 
fish, and ordered all those assembled, that each should call 
me by the name I was to have in the rank of our near rela¬ 
tionship ; and seeing that I could not rise from the ground 
but by the help of two others, he had a sweating cabin made, 
in which he made me enter naked with four Indians. This 
cabin he covered with buffalo-skins, and inside he put stones 
red to the middle. He made me a sign to do as the 
others before beginning to sweat, but I merely concealed my 
nakedness with a handkerchief. As soon as these Indians 
had several times breathed out quite violently, he began to 
sing in a thundering voice, the others seconded him, all put¬ 
ting their hands on me, and rubbing me, while they wept 
bitterly. I began to faint, but I came out, and could scarcely 
take my habit to put on. When he had made me sweat thus 
three times a week, I felt as strong as ever. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 127 

• 

I often spent sad hours among these savages; for, Desides 
their only giving me a little wild rice and smoked fish roes 
five or six times a week, which they boiled in earthen pots, 
Aquipaguetin took me to a neighboring island with his wives 
and children to till the ground, in order to sow some tobacco 
seed, and seeds of vegetables that I had brought, and which 
this Indian prized extremely. Sometimes he assembled the 
elders of the village, in whose presence he asked me for a 
compass that I always had in my sleeve; seeing that I made 
the needle turn with a key, and believing justly that we 
Europeans went all over the habitable globe, guided by this 
instrument, this chief, who was very eloquent, persuaded his 
people that we were spirits, and capable of doing anything 
beyond their reach. At the close of his address, which was 
very animated, all the old men wept over my head, admiring 
in me what they could not understand. I had an iron pot 
with three lion-paw feet, which these Indians never dared 
touch, unless their hand was wrapped up in some robe. The 
women hung it to the branch of a tree, not daring to enter the 
cabin where it was. I was some time unable to make myself 
understood by these people, but feeling myself gnawed by 
hunger, I began to compile a dictionary of their language by 
means of their children, with whom I made myself familiar, 
in order to learn. 

As soon as I could catch the word Taketchiabihen, which 
means in their language, “ How do you call that,” I became, 
in a little while, able to converse with them on familiar things. 
At first, indeed, to ask the word run in their language, I had 
to quicken my steps from one end of their large cabin to the 
other. The chiefs of these savages seeing my desire to learn, 
often made me write, naming all the parts of the human body, 
and as I would not put on paper certain indelicate words, at 


128 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


which they do not blush, it afforded them an agreeable 
amusement. They often put me questions, but as I had to 
look at my paper, to answer them, they said to one another: 
“ When we ask Pere Louis [for so they had heard our two 
Frenchmen call me], he does not answer us ; but as soon as 
he has looked at what is white [for they have no word to say 
paper], he answers us, and tells us his thoughts; that white 
thing,” said they, “ must be a spirit which tells Pere Louis 
all we say.” They concluded that our two Frenchmen were 
not as great as I, because they could not work like me on 
what was white. In consequence the Indians believed that 
I could do everything; when the rain fell in such quantities 
as to incommode them, or prevent their going to hunt, they 
told me to stop it; but I knew enough to answer them by 
pointing to the clouds, that he was great chief of heaven, was 
master of everything, and that they bid me to do, did not 
depend on me. 

These Indians often asked me how many wives and chil¬ 
dren I had, and how old I was, that is, how many winters, 
for so these nations alway count. These men never illumined 
by the light of a faith were surprised at the answer I made 
them ; for pointing to our two Frenchmen whom I had then 
gone to visit three leagues from our village, I told them that 
a man among us could have only one wife till death; that as 
for me, I had promised the Master of life to live as they saw 
me, and to come and live with them to teach them that he 
would have them be like the French; that this great Master 
of life had sent down fire from heaven, and destroyed a na¬ 
tion given to enormous crimes, like those committed among 
them. But that gross people till then, lawless and faithless, 
turned all I said into ridicule. u How,” said they, u would you 
have those two men with thee have wives ? Ours would not 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 129 

live with them, for they have hair all over the face, and we 
have none there or elsewhere.” In fact, they were never bet¬ 
ter pleased with me, than when I was shaved; and from a 
complaisance certainly not criminal, I shaved every week. 
All our kindred seeing that I wished to leave them, made a 
packet of beaver-skins worth six hundred livres among the 
French. These peltries they 'gave me to induce me to re¬ 
main among them, to introduce me to strange nations that 
were coming to visit them, and in restitution of what they had 
robbed me of; but I refused these presents, telling them that 
I had not come among them to gather beaver-skins, but only 
to tell them the will of the great Master of life, and to live 
wretchedly with them, after having left a most abundant coun¬ 
try. “ It is true,” said they, “ that we have no chase in this 
part, and that thou sufferest, but wait till summer, then we 
w T ill go and kill buffalo in the warm country.” I should have 
been satisfied had they fed me as they did their children, 
but they eat secretly at night unknown to me. Although 
women are, for the most part, more kind and compassionate 
than men, they gave what little fish they had to their chil¬ 
dren, regarding me as a slave made by their warriors in their 
enemies’ country, and they reasonably preferred their chil¬ 
dren’s lives to mine. 

There were some old men who often came to weep over 
my head in a sighing voice, saying, “Son,” or “Nephew, I 
feel sorry to see thee without eating, and to learn how badly 
our warriors treated thee on the way ; they are young braves, 
without sense, who would, have killed thee, and have robbed 
thee of all thou hast. Hadst thou wanted buffalo or beaver- 
robes, we would wipe away thy tears, but thou wilt have 

nothing of what we offer thee.” 

Ouasicoude, that is, the Pierced-pine, the greatest of all the 

9 


130 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


Issati chiefs, being very indignant at those who had so mal¬ 
treated us, said, in open council, that those who had robbed 
us of all we had, were like hungry curs that stealthily snatch 
a bit of meat from the bark dish, and then fly; so those who 
had acted so toward us, deserved to be regarded as dogs, 
since they insulted men who brought them iron and mer¬ 
chandise, which they had never had ; that he would find 
means to punish the one who had so outraged us. This is 
what the brave chief showed to all his nation, as we shall see 
hereafter. 

As I often went to visit the cabins of these last nations, I 
found a sick child, whose father’s name was Mamenisi; having 
a moral certainty of its death, I begged our two Frenchmen 
to give me their advice, telling them I believed myself 
obliged to baptize it. Michael Ako would not accompany 
me, the Picard du Gay alone followed me to act as sponsor, 
or rather as witness of the baptism.* I christened the child 
Antoinette in honor of St. Anthony of Padua, as well as from 
the Picard’s name which was Anthony Auguelle. Pie was a 
native of Amiens, and a nephew of Mr. de Cauroy, procura¬ 
tor-general of the Premonstratensians, both now at Paris. 
Having poured natural water on the head of this Indian 
child, and uttered these words : “ Creature of God, I baptize 
thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost,” I took half an altar cloth which I had wrested 
from the hands of an Indian who had stolen it from me, and 
put it on the body of the baptized child ; for as I could not 
say mass for want of wine and vestments, this piece of linen 
could not be put to a better use, than to enshroud the first 
Christian child among these tribes. I do not know whether the 

* This a. curious affair, a missionary consulting two canoemen as to the expe¬ 
diency of conferring a sacrament. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 131 

softness of the linen had refreshed her, but she was the next 
day smiling in her mother’s arms, who believed that I had 
cured her child, but she died soon after to my great consola¬ 
tion. 

During our stay among the Issati or Nadouessiou, we saw 
Indians who came as embassadors from about five hundred 
leagues to the west. They informed us that the Assenipoua- 
lacs* were then only seven or eight days distant to the north¬ 
east of us; all the other known tribes on the west and north¬ 
west inhabit immense plains and prairies abounding in buffalo 
and peltries, where they are sometimes obliged to make fires 
with bufialo dung for want of wood. 

Three months after, all these nations assembled, and the 
chiefs having regulated the places for hunting the buffalo, 
they dispersed in several bands so as not to starve each other. 
Aquipaguetin, one of the chiefs who had adopted me as his 
son, wished to take me to the west with about two hundred 
families ; I made answer that I awaited spirits (so they called 
Frenchmen), at the river Ouisconsin, which empties into the 
river Colbert, who were to join me to bring merchandise, and 
that if he went that way, I would continue with him; he 
would have gone but for those of his nation. In the beginning 
of July, 1680, we descended in canoe southward with the 
great chief named Ouasicoude, that is to say, the Pierced-pine, 
with about eighty cabins, composed of more than a hundred 
and thirty families, and about two hundred and fifty warriors. 
Scarcely would the Indians give me a place in their little 
fleet, for they had only old canoes. They went four leagues 
lower down to get birch bark to make some more. Having 
made a hole in the ground to hide our silver chalice and our 

* This name, Assenipoualak, has now been softened to Assiniboin; it is the 
Algonquin epithet for a large branch of the Dahcotah family, long hostile to 
the Sioux, written also simply Poualak. 


132 NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPlJN. 

papers till we returned from the hunt, and keeping only our 
breviary, so as not to be loaded, I stood on the bank of a lake 
formed by the river we had called St. Francis, and stretched 
out my hand to the canoes as they rapidly passed in succes¬ 
sion ; our Frenchmen also had one for themselves, which the 
Indians had given them ; they would not take me in, Michael 
Ako saying that he had taken me long enough to satisfy him. 
I was hurt at this answer, seeing myself thus abandoned by 
Christians, to whom I had always done good, as they both 
often acknowledged; but God having never abandoned me 
in that painful voyage, inspired two Indians to take me in 
their little canoe, where I had no other employment than to 
bale out with a little bark tray the water which entered by little 
holes. This I did not do without getting all wet. This boat 
might, indeed, be called a death-box, from its lightness and 
fragility. These canoes do not generally weigh over fifty 
pounds ; the least motion of the body upsets them, unless you 
are long habituated to that kind of navigation. On disem¬ 
barking in the evening, the Picard, as an excuse, told me 
that their canoe was half rotten, and that, had we been three 
in it, we should have run a great risk of remaining on the 
way. In spite of this excuse I told him, that being Chris¬ 
tians, they should not act so, especially among Indians, more 
than eight hundred leagues from the French settlements; 
that if they were well received in this country, it was only 
in consequence of my bleeding some asthmatic Indians, and 
my giving them some orvietan and other remedies which I 
kept in my sleeve, and by which I had saved the lives of 
some Indians bit by rattlesnakes, and because I had neatly 
made their tonsure, which Indian children wear to the a^e 

o 

of eighteen or twenty, but have no way of making except by 
burning the hair with red-hot flat stones. I reminded them 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 133 

that by my ingenuity I had gained the friendship of these 
people, who would have killed us or made us suffer more, 
had they not discovered about me those remedies which they 
prize, when they restore the sick to health. However, the 
Picard only, as he retired to his host’s, apologised to me. 

Four days after our departure for the buffalo hunt, we 
halted eight leagues above St. Anthony of Padua’s falls on 
an eminence opposite the mouth of the river St. Francis; 
here the Indian women made their canoe frames while wait¬ 
ing for those who were to bring bark to make canoes. The 
young men went to hunt stag, deer, and beaver, but killed so 
few animals for such a large party, that we could very rarely 
get a bit of meat, having to put up with a broth once in every 
twenty-four hours. The Picard and myself went to look for 
haws, gooseberries, and little wild fruit, which often did us 
more harm than good ; this obliged us to go alone, as Michael 
Ako refused, in a wretched canoe to Ouisconsin river, which 
was more than a hundred leagues off, to see whether the sieur 
de la Salle had sent to that place a reinforcement of men, 
with powder, lead, and other munitions, as he had promised 
us on our departure from the Islinois.* 

The Indians would not have suffered this voyage, had not 
one of the three remained with them ; they wished me to 
stay, but Michael Ako absolutely refused. Our whole stock 
was fifteen charges of powder, a gun, a wretched earthern 
pot which the Indians had given us, a knife, and a beaver- 
robe, to make a journey of two hundred leagues, thus aban¬ 
doning ourselves to Providence. As we were making the 
portage of our canoe at St. Anthony of Padua’s falls, we per¬ 
ceived five or six of our Indians who had taken the start; 

* This is the first we hear of this promise, or of La Salle’s haying sent him to 
the Wisconsin, or given him a rendezvous there. 


134 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


one of them was up in an oak opposite the great fall weeping 
bitterly, with a well-dressed beaver robe, whitened inside and 
trimmed with porcupine quills which he was offering as a 
sacrifice to the falls, which is in itself admirable and fright¬ 
ful. I heard him while shedding copious tears say as he 
spoke to the great cataract: “Thou who art a spirit, grant 
that our nation may pass her quietly without accident, may 
kill buffalo in abundance, conquer our enemies, and bring in 
slaves, some of whom we will put to death before thee; the 
Messenecqz (so they call the tribe named by the French 
Outouagamis), have killed our kindred, grant that we may 
avenge them.” In fact, after the heat of the buffalo-hunt, 
they invaded their enemies, killed some, and brought others 
as slaves. If they succeed a single time, even after repeated 
failures, they adhere to their superstition. This robe offered 
in sacrifice served one of our Frenchmen, who took it as we 
returned. 

A league below St. Anthony of Padua’s falls, the Picard 
was obliged to land and get his powder-horn which he had 
left at the falls. On his return, I showed him a snake about 
six feet long crawling up a straight and precipitous mountain 
and which gradually gained on some swallows’ nests to eat 
the young ones; at the foot of the mountain, we saw the 
feathers of those he had apparently eaten, and we pelted him 
down with stones. 

As we descended the river Colbert, we found some of our 
Indians cabined in the islands, loaded with buffalo-meat, 
some of which they gave us. Two hours after landing, 
fifteen or sixteen warriors of the party whom we had left 
above St. Anthony of Padua’s falls, entered tomahawk in 
hand, upset the cabins of those who had invited us, took all 
the meat and bear-oil that they found, and greased them- 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 135 

selves from head to foot; we at first took them to he enemies, 
but one of those who called himself my uncle, told me, that 
having gone to the buffalo-hunt before the rest, contrary to 
the maxims of the country, they had a right to strip them, 
because they put the buffaloes to flight before the arrival of 
the mass of the nation. 

During sixty leagues that we sailed down the river, we 
killed only one deer, swimming across, but the heat was so 
great that the meat spoiled in twenty-four hours. This made 
us look for turtles, which we found hard to take, as their hear¬ 
ing is acute, and the moment they hear the least noise, they 
jump quickly into the water. We, however, took one much 
larger than the rest, with a thinner shell and fatter meat. 
While I tried to cut off his head, he all but cut off one of my 
fingers. We had drawn one end of our canoe ashore, when 
a gust of wind drove it into the middle of the great river; 
the Picard had gone with the gun into the prairie to try and 
kill a buffalo; so I quickly pulled off our habit, and threw it 
on the turtle with some stones to prevent its escaping, and 
swam after our canoe which went very fast down stream, as 
the current there was very strong. Having reached it with 
much difficulty, I durst not get in for fear of upsetting it, so 
I either pushed it before me, or drew it after me, and so little 
by little reached the shore about one eighth of a league from 
the place where I had the turtle. The Picard finding only 
our habit, and not seeing the canoe, naturally believed that 
some Indian had killed me. He retired to the prairie to look 
all around whether there were no people there. Meanwhile 
I remounted the river with all diligence in the canoe, and 
had just put on my habit, when I saw more than sixty buf¬ 
falo crossing the river to reach the south side; I pursued the 
animals, calling the Picard with all my might; he ran up at 


136 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


the noise and had time to enter the canoe, while the dog 
which had jumped into the water had driven them into an 
island. Having given them chase here, they were crossing 
back when he shot one, which was so heavy that we could 
get it ashore only in pieces, being obliged to cut the best 
morsels, while the rest was in the water. As it was almost 
two days since we had eaten, we made a fire with the drift¬ 
wood we found on the sand; and while the Picard was 
skinning the animal, I cooked the morsels of the fat meat in 
our little earthern pot; we then eat it so eagerly that we both 
fell sick, and had to stay two days in the island to recover. 
We could not take much of the meat, our canoe was so small, 
and besides the excessive heat spoiled it, so that we were all 
at once deprived of it, as it was full of worms; and when we 
embarked in the morning, we did not know what we would 
eat during the day. Never have w T e more admired God’s 
providence than during this voyage, for we did not always 
find deer, and could not kill them when we would ; but the 
eagles, which are very common in these vast countries, some¬ 
times dropped from their claws bream, or large carp, which 
they were carrying to their nests. Another time we found 
an otter on the bank of the river Colbert eating a large fish, 
which had, running from the head, a kind of paddle or beak, 
five fingers broad and a foot and a half long, which made our 
Picard say, that he thought he saw a devil in the paws of 
that otter: but his fright did not prevent our eating the mon¬ 
strous fish which we found very good. 

While seeking the Ouisconsin river, Aquipaguetin, that 
savage father, whom I had left, and whom I believed more 
than two hundred leagues off, suddenly appeared with ten 
warriors, on the 11th of July, 1680. We believed that he 
was coming to kill us, because we had left him, with the 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 137 

knowledge, indeed, of the other Indians, but against his will. 
He first gave us some wild-rice, and a slice of buffalo-meat 
to eat, and asked whether we had found the Frenchmen who 
were to bring us goods; but not being satisfied with what we 
said, lie started before us, and went to Ouisconsin to try and 
carry off what he could from the French; this savage found 
none there, and rejoined us three days after. The Picard 
had gone in the prairie to hunt, and I was alone in a little 
cabin on the bank of the river, which I had made to screen 
us from the sun, with a blanket that an Indian had given me 
back. Aquipaguetin seeing me alone came up, tomahawk in 
hand: I laid hold of two pocket-pistols, which the Picard 
had got back from the Indians, and a knife, not intending to 
kill my pretended Indian father, but only to frighten him, " 
and prevent his crushing me, in case he had that intention. 
Aquipaguetin reprimanded me for exposing myself thus to the 
insults of their enemies, saying that I should at least take the 
other shore to be more in safety. He wished to take me 
with him, telling me that he was with three hundred hunters, 
who killed more buffalo than those to whom I had abandoned 
myself. I would have done well to follow his advice, for the 
Picard and myself ascending the river almost eighty leagues 
way, ran great risk of perishing a thousand times. 

We had only ten charges of powder which we were obliged 
to divide into twenty to kill wild-pigeons, or turtle-doves ; but 
when these at last gave out we had recourse to three hooks, 
which we baited with bits of putrid barbels dropped by an 
eagle. For two whole days we took nothing, and were thus 
destitute of all support when, during night prayer, as we were 
repeating these words addressed to St. Anthony of Padua, 
u Pereunt pericula, cessat et necessitas,” the Picard heard a 
noise, left his prayers, and ran to our hooks which he drew 


138 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


from tlie waters with two barbels so large that I had to go 
and help him. Without cleaning these monstrous fish we cut 
them in pieces, and roasted them on the coals, our only little 
earthen pot having been broken. Two hours after night, we 
were joined by Mamenisi, the father of the little Indian girl 
that I had baptized before she died; he gave us plenty of. 
meat. 

The next day the Indians whom we had left with Michael 
Ako, came down from Buffalo river with their flotilla of 
canoes loaded with meat. Aquipaguetin had, as he passed, 
told how exposed the Picard and I were on our voyage, and 
the Indian chiefs represented to us the cowardice of Michael 
Ako, who had refused to undertake it, for fear of dying by 
hunger. If I had not stopped him, the Picard would have 
insulted him. 

All the Indian women hid their stock of meat at the mouth 
of Buffalo river, and in the islands, and we again went down 
the Colbert about eighty leagues to hunt with this multitude 
of canoes; from time to time the Indians hid their canoes 
on the banks of the river and in the islands; then struck in to 
the prairies seven or eight leagues beyond the mountains, 
where they took, at different times, a hundred and twenty 
buffaloes. They always left some of their old men on the 
tops of the mountains to be on the lookout for their enemies. 
One day when I was dressing the foot of one who called him¬ 
self my brother, and who had run a splinter deep into his 
foot, an alarm was given in the camp, two hundred bowmen 
ran out; and that brave Indian, although I had just made a 
deep incision in the sole of his foot to draw out the wood, 
left me and ran even faster than the rest, not to be deprived 
of the glory of fighting, but instead of enemies, they found 
only a herd of about eighty stags, who took flight. The 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 139 

wounded man could scarcely regain the camp. During this 
alarm, all the Indian women sang in a lugubrious tone. The 
Picard left me to join his host, and I remaining with one called 
Otchimbi, had to carry in the canoe an old Indian woman of 
over eighty. For all her great age, she threatened to strike 
with her paddle three children who troubled us in the middle 
of our canoe. The men treated me well enough, but as the 
meat was almost entirely at the disposal of the women, I was 
compelled, in order to get some, to make their children’s ton¬ 
sures, about as large as those of our religious, for these little 
savages wear them to the age of fifteen or sixteen, and their 
parents make them with red hot stones. 

We had another alarm in our camp: the old men on duty 
on the top of the mountains announced that they saw two 
warriors in the distance; all the bowmen hastened there with 
speed, each trying to outstrip the others; but they brought 
back only two of their own women, who came to tell them 
that a party of their people were hunting at the extremity of 
Lake Conde (Superior), had found five spirits (so they call 
the French); who, by means of a slave, had expressed a wish 
to come on, knowing us to be among them, in order to find 
out whether we were English, Dutch, Spaniards, or French¬ 
men being unable to understand by what roundabout we had 
reached those tribes. 

On the 25 th of July, 1680 , as we were ascending the river 
Colbert after the buffalo-hunt, to the Indian villages we met 
the sieur de Luth, who came to the Nadouessious, with five 
French soldiers; they joined us about two hundred and 
twenty leagues distant from the country of the Indians who 
had taken us ;* as we had some knowledge of their language, 

* This would make his meeting with de Luth take place some time below 
the Illinois, according to his description of the river. In the English edition, 


140 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


they begged ns to accompany them to the villages of those 
tribes, to which I readily agreed, knowing that these French¬ 
men had not approached the sacraments for two years. The 
sienr de Luth, who acted as captain, seeing me tired of ton¬ 
suring the children, and bleeding asthmatic old men to get a 
mouthful of meat, told the Indians that I was his elder brother, 
so that, having my subsistence secured, I labored only for the 
salvation of these Indians. 

We arrived at the villages of the Issati on the 14th of Au¬ 
gust, 1680. I there found our chalice and books which I had 
hidden in the ground; the tobacco which I had planted, had 
been choked by the weeds; the turnips, cabbages, and other 
vegetables were of extraordinary size. The Indians durst not 
eat them. During our stay, they invited us to a feast where 
there were more than a hundred and twenty men all naked. 
The first chief, a relative of the one whose body I had covered 
with a blanket, brought me a bark dish of food which he put 
on a buffalo-robe, dressed, whitened, and trimmed with por¬ 
cupine quills on one side, and the curly wool on the other. 
He afterward put it on my head, saying: “ He whose body 
thou didst cover, covers thine ; he has borne tidings of thee 
to the land of souls. Brave was thy act in his regard ; all 
the nation praises thee for it.” He then reproached the sieur 
du Luth, for not having covered the deceased’s body, as I did. 
He replied that he covered only those of captains like him¬ 
self; but the Indian answered, “Pere Louis is a greater cap¬ 
tain than thou for his robe (meaning our brocade chasuble), 


doubtless, for good reasons, he says, one hundred and twenty which would bring 
it just below the Wisconsin. If de Luth came by way of Lake Superior, it is 
not easy to see how he met them so far down, or how after descending the Mis¬ 
sissippi he needed the aid of Hennepin in ascending. This officer who figured 
considerably in the affairs of Canada, was captain in the marines, and was com¬ 
mander of Fort Frontenac, in 1696. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 141 

which we have sent to our allies, who dwell three moons 
from this country, is more beautiful than that which thou 
wearest.” 

Toward the end of September, having no implements to 
begin an establishment, we resolved to tell these people, that 
for their benefit, we would have to return to the French set¬ 
tlements.* The grand chief of the Issati, or Nadouessiouz, 
consented, and traced in pencil on a paper I gave him, the 
route we should take for four hundred leagues. With this 
chart, we set out, eight Frenchmen, in two canoes, and de¬ 
scended the rivers St. Francis and Colbert. Two of our men 
took two beaver-robes at St. Anthony of Padua’s falls, which 
the Indians had hung in sacrifice on the trees. 

We stopped near Ouisconsin river to smoke some meat; 
three Indians coming from the nations we had left, told us 
that their great chief named Pierced-pine, having heard that 
one of the chiefs of the nation wished to pursue and kill 
us, had entered his cabin and tomahawked him, to prevent 
his pernicious design. We regaled these three Indians with 
meat, of which we were in no want then. 

Two days after, we perceived an army of one hundred and 
forty canoes, filled with about two hundred and fifty war¬ 
riors; we thought that those who brought the preceding 
news were spies, for instead of descending the river on leav¬ 
ing ns, they ascended to tell their people; however, the 
chiefs of the little army visited us and treated ns very kindly, 
and the same day descended the river as we did to the Ouis¬ 
consin. We found that river as wide as the Seignelay (Il¬ 
linois), with a strong current. After sailing up sixty leagues, 
we came to a portage of half a league, which the Hadoues- 
siouz chiefs had marked for us; we slept there to leave marks 

* Here, a la Hennepin, de Lutli is merged in the we. 


142 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


and crosses on the trunks of the trees.* The next day we 
entered a river which winds wonderfully, for after six hours 
sailing, we found ourselves opposite the place where we 
started. One of our men wishing to kill a swan on the wing, 
capsized his canoe, fortunately not beyond his depth. 

We passed four lakes, two pretty large, on the banks of 
which the Miami’s formerly resided, we found Maskoutens, 
Kikapous, and Outaougamy there, who sow Indian corn for 
their subsistence. All this country is as fine as that of the 
Islinois. 

We made a portage at a rapid called Kakalin, and after 
about four hundred leagues sail from our leaving the country 
of the Issati, and Kadouessiouz, we arrived safely at the ex¬ 
tremity of the bay of the Fetid, where we found Frenchmen 
trading contrary to orders with the Indians. They had some 
little wine in a tin flagon, which enabled me to say mass; I 
had then only a chalice and altar stone; but Providence sup¬ 
plied me with vestments, for some Islinois flying from the 
tyranny of the Iroquois, who had destroyed a part of their 
nation, took the vestments of the chapel of Father Zenobius 
Membre, Recollect, who was with the Islinois in their flight. 
They gave me all they took, except the chalice, which they 
promised to give back in a few days for a present of tobacco. 

I had not celebrated mass for over nine months for want of 
wine; I had still some hosts. We remained two days to 
rest, sing the Te Deum, high mass, and preach. All our 
Frenchmen went to confession and communion, to thank 
God for having preserved us amid so many wanderings and 
perils. 

One of our Frenchmen gave a gun for a canoe larger than 

* This was the same route that Marquette took going down. See his descrip¬ 
tion. The Kakalin rapid had been previously visited and explored by Allouez, 
and mentioned in the Rel., 1669- 70. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


143 


ours, with which, after sailing a hundred leagues, we reached 
Missilimackinac, where we were obliged to winter. To em¬ 
ploy the time usefully, I preached every holy day, and on the 
Sundays of Advent and Lent * The Ottawas and Ilurons 
were often present, rather from curiosity than from any in¬ 
clination to live according to the Christian maxims. These 
last Indians said, speaking of our discovery, that they were 
men, but that we Frenchmen were spirits, because, had they 
gone so far, the strange nations would have killed them, while 
we went fearlessly everywhere. 

During the winter, we took whitefish in Lake Orleans 
(Huron), in twenty or twenty-two fathoms water. They served 
to season the Indian corn, which was our usual fare. Forty- 
two Frenchmen trading there with the Indians begged me to 
give them all the cord of St. Francis, which I readily did, 
making an exhortation at each ceremony. 

We left Missilimackinac in Easter week, 1681, and were 
obliged to drag our provisions and canoes on the ice, more 
than ten leagues on Lake Orleans; having advanced far 
enough on this fresh-water sea, and the ice breaking, we em¬ 
barked after Low Sunday, which we celebrated, having some 
little wine which a Frenchman had fortunately brought, and 
which served us quite well the rest of the voyage. After a 
hundred leagues on Lake Orleans, we passed the strait (De¬ 
troit), for thirty leagues and Lake St. Clare,f which is in the 
middle and entered Lake Conty, where we killed, with sword 

* In the English edition he tells ns that he enjoyed, during the winter, the 
hospitality of Father Pierson, a Jesuit and a fellow-townsmen of his own, whom 
he eulogizes there, but passes over in perfect silence here. What was his reason 
in each case ? In neither he mentions the church at Green bay. 

f This name is commonly written St. Clair, but this is incorrect; we should 
either retain the French form Claire, or take the English Clare. It received its 
name in honor of the founder of the Franciscan nuns, from the fact that La Salle 
reached it on the day consecrated to her. 


144 : 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER HENNEPIN. 


and axe, more than thirty sturgeon which came to spawn on 
the banks of the lake. On the way we met an Ottawa chief 
called Talon, six persons of whose family had died of starva¬ 
tion, not having found a good fishery or hunting-ground. 
This Indian told us that the Iroquois had carried ofi a family 
of twelve belonging to his tribe, and begged us to deliver 
them, if yet alive. 

We sailed along Lake Conty, and after a hundred and 
twenty leagues we passed the strait of the great tails ot Niag¬ 
ara and Fort Conty, and entering Lake Frontenac, coasted 
along the southern shore. After thirty leagues from Lake 
Conty, we reached the great Seneca village about Whitsun¬ 
day, 1681. We entered the Iroquois council and asked them, 
why they had enslaved twelve of our Ottawa allies, telling 
them that those whom they had taken, were children of the 
governor of the French, as well as the Iroquois, and that by 
this violence, they declared war on the French. To induce 
them to restore our allies, we gave them two belts of wam¬ 
pum. 

The next day the Iroquois answered us by two belts, that 
the Ottawas had been carried off by some mad young war¬ 
riors ; that we might assure the governor of the French, that 
the Iroquois would hearken to him in all things; that they 
wished to live with Onontio like real children with their 
father (so they call the governor of Canada), and that they 
would restore those whom they had taken. 

A chief named Teganeot, who spoke for his whole nation 
in all the councils, made me a present of otter and beaver- 
skins, to the value of over twenty-five crowns. I took it wfith 
one hand, and gave it with the other to his son, telling him 
that I gave it to him to buy goods of the other Frenchmen; 
that as for us, Barefeet, as the Iroquois called us, we would 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 145 

not take beaver or peltries; but that I would report their 
friendly feeling to the governor of the French. This Iroquois 
chief was surprised at my refusing his present, and told his 
own people that the other French did not do so. We took 
leave of the chief men, and after sailing forty leagues on the 
lake, reached Fort Frontenac, where the dear Eecollect Father 
Luke was greatly surprised to see me, as for two years it had 
been reported that the Indians had hung me with our Fran¬ 
ciscan cord. All the inhabitants, French and Indians, whom 
we had gathered at Fort Frontenac, welcomed me with ex¬ 
traordinary joy at my return ; the Indians calling me Atkon, 
and putting their hand to their mouth, which means, Barefeet 
is a spirit to have travelled so far. At the mouth of Lake 
Frontenac the current is strong, and the more you descend 
the more it increases ; the rapids are frightful. In two days 
and a half we descended the river St. Lawrence so rapidly 
that we reached Montreal (sixty miles from the fort), where 
the count de Frontenac, governor-general of all New France 
then was. This governor received me as well as a man of 
his probity can receive a missionary. As he believed me 
killed by the Indians, he was for a time thunderstruck, be¬ 
lieving me to be some other religious. He beheld me 
wasted, without a cloak, with a habit patched with pieces of 
buffalo-skin. He took me with him for twelve days to re¬ 
cover, and himself gave me the meat I was to eat, for fear I 
should fall sick by eating too much after so long a diet. I 
rendered him an exact account of my voyage, and repre¬ 
sented to him the advantage of our discovery.* 

* Of course the English edition says, nothing about this exact account, nor 
tells how he concealed the truth and avoided questions. 

10 





























• I $ 

' 

/ ■ 



•»* 

I • 












■ 










NARRATIVE 


OF THE ADVENTURES OF 

LA SALLE’S PARTY AT FORT CREVECCEUR, IN ILINOIS, 

FROM FEBRUARY, 1680, TO JUNE, 1681, BY 

FATHER ZENOBIUS MEMBER\ RECOLLECT* 


F ATHER LOUIS (HENNEPIN) having set out on the 
29th of February, 1680, the sieur de la Salle left the 
sieur de Tonty as commander of Fort Crevecoeur with am¬ 
munitions, and provisions, and peltries, to pay the workmen 

* If the projects of La Salle had raised up against him pertinacious enemies, 
they nevertheless drew around him a few faithful and devoted friends, and none 
more conspicuous than the excellent missionary whose journals we here insert. 
The amiable Father Membre is the name under which all seem to delight in pre¬ 
senting him to us, so much were they touched by his goodness of heart. Were 
it prudent to credit Hennepin’s last work for anything new, we might say, that 
Membre was born at Bapaume, a small fortified town, now in France, but then 
in the Spanish Netherlands, and that he was a cousin of Father Christian le 
Clercq, who published his journals in the “Etablissement de la Foi.” It was 
probably on entering the Recollect convent in Artois, where he was the first novice 
in the new province of St. Anthony, that he assumed the name of Zenobius. 
With his cousin le Clercq, he was the first sent by that province to Canada 
where he arrived in 167 5, from which time till that of his departure for Fronte- 
nac, in September, 1678, he was probably employed at the convent of Quebec, as 
his name does not appear in any of the neighboring parish registers examined to 
obtain his autograph. From Fort Frontenac he accompanied La Salle to Niagara, 
Mackinaw, and, at last, to Fort Crevecoeur, in Illinois. Here he was left by that 
commander with Tonty and Father Gabriel de la Rebourde, with whom on the 
inroad of the Iroquois and flight of the Illinois, he endeavored to reach Green 



148 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


as agreed, and merchandise to trade with and buy provisions 
as we needed them, and having lastly given orders as to what 
was to be done in his absence, set out with four Frenchmen 
and an Indian on the 2d of March, 1680. He arrived on 
the 11th at the great Ilinois village where I then was, and 
thence, after twenty-four hours’ stay, he continued his route 

Bay. Father Gabriel perished on the way by the hand of the Kikapoos; the 
survivors were hospitably received by the Jesuits at Green Bay, where they 
wintered, and in the spring proceeded to Mackinaw with Father Enjalran. 
Here La Salle soon joined them, and Membre, after a voyage to Fort Frontenac, 
and probably to Montreal, with that commander in the spring of 1681, descended 
the Mississippi with him to the gulf, and on their return proceeded at his request 
to France in 1682, to lay before the government the result of the expedition. 
He left a journal of his voyage at Quebec; but, as he declined communicating it 
to the new governor, De la Barre, the latter, in his report to the home govern¬ 
ment, throws imputations on any account of the missionary, which must, how¬ 
ever, be ascribed only to bias and dissatisfaction. After fulfilling his mission at 
court, Father Membre became warden of the recollects at Bapaume, and 
remained so till he was appointed at La Salle’s request, superior of the mission¬ 
aries who were to accompany his expedition by sea. Father Membre reached 
Texas in safety, and though nearly drowned in the wreck of one of the vessels, 
was left by La Salle in good health at Fort St. Louis, in January, 1687, intending 
as soon as possible to begin a mission among the friendly Cenis, with Father 
Maximus le Clercq. The colony was, however, cut to pieces by the Indians, for, 
when in 1689, a party of Spaniards set out to expel the French as intruders, all 
was silent as they drew near; to their horror they found on reaching it nothing 
but dead bodies within and without: priest and soldier, husband and wife, old 
and young, lay dead before them, pierced with arrows, or crushed with clubs 1 
Touched with compassion, the Spaniards committed their remains to a common 
grave, and retired. Here Father Membre perished, but earth has no record 
of the day. He was not, apparently, a man of refined education, nor is this a 
reproach, as his order was not intended to direct colleges and seats of learning, 
but to preach to the poor and lowly. But though his journal is often involved 
and obscure, it bears intrinsic marks of fidelity, and shows him to have been 
less prejudiced than many of his companions. Fitted rather for the quiet direc¬ 
tion of a simple flock, his zeal could not bear up against the hardships and bar¬ 
renness of an Indian mission for which no previous training or associations had 
fitted him, while his many wanderings tended still more to prevent his useful¬ 
ness. His only permanent mission was in Illinois, where he labored assiduously 
with Father Gabriel from March to September, 1680, notwithstanding the re¬ 
pugnance which he felt for the ungrateful field. They are, accordingly, after 
the Jesuits, Marquette, and Allouez, the first missionaries of Illinois, and worthy 
of a distinguished place in her annals, and of the noble eulogy of Mr. Sparks, on 
the missionaries of New France. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 149 

on foot over the ice to Fort Frontenac. From our arrival at 
Fort Crevecceur on the 14th of January past, Father Gabriel, 
our superior, Father Louis, and myself, had raised a cabin in 
which we had established some little regularity, exercising 
our functions as missionaries to the French of our party, and 
the Ilinois Indians who came in crowds. As by the end of 
February I already knew a part of their language, because I 
spent the whole of the day in the Indian camp, which was but 
half a league off, our father superior appointed me to follow 
when they were about to return to their village. A chief named 
Oumahouha had adopted me as his son in the Indian fashion 
and M. de la Salle had made him presents to take care of 
me. Father Gabriel resolved to stay at the fort with the sieur 
de Tonty and the workmen; this had been, too, the request of 
the sieur de la Salle who hoped that by his credit and the 
apparent confidence of the people in him, he would be able 
to keep them in order, but God permitted that the good in¬ 
tentions in which the sieur de la Salle thought he left them, 
should not last long. On the thirteenth, he himself had met 
two of his men whom he had sent to Missilimakinac to meet 
his vessel, but who had got no tidings of it. He addressed 
them to the sieur de Tonty ; but these evil disposed men cab¬ 
alled so well, that they excited suspicion and dissatisfaction 
in most of those there, so that almost all deserted, carrying 
off the ammunition, provisions, and all that was in the store. 
Two of them who were conducting Father Gabriel to the 
Ilinois village where M. de Tonty had come on a visit, aban¬ 
doned the good father at night in the middle of the road, and 
spiked the guns of the sieur de Boisrondet, and the man 
called Lesperance, who were in the same canoe, but not in 
their plot. They informed the sieur de Tonty who, finding 
himself destitute of everything, sent four of those who re- 


150 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


mained by two different routes to inform the sieur de la 
Salle. 

The perfidious wretches assembled at the fort which the 
sieur de la Salle had built at the mouth of the Myamis’ river, 
demolished the fort, carried off all that was there, and as we 
learned some months after, went to Missilimackinac, where 
they seized the peltries belonging to the sieur de la Salle, 
and left in store there by him. 

The only great Ilinois village being composed of seven or 
eight thousand souls, Father Gabriel and I had a sufficient 
field for the exercise of our zeal, besides the few French who 
soon after came there. There are, moreover, the Miamis sit¬ 
uated southeast by south of the bottom of Lake Dauphin, on 
the borders of a pretty fine river, about fifteen leagues inland 
at 41° 14.; the nation of the Maskoutens and Outagamies, 
who dwell at about 43° 14., on the banks of the river called 
Melleoki (Milwauki), which empties into Lake Dauphin, very 
near their village ; on the western side the Kikapous and the 
Amoves (Iowas), who form two villages ; west of these last, 
above the river Checagoumemant, the village of the Ilinois 
Cascaschia, situated west of the bottom of Lake Dauphin, a 
little southwest at about 41° 14.; the Anthoutantas* and 
Maskoutens, Nadouessions, about one hundred and thirty 
leagues from the Ilinois, in three great villages built near a 
river which empties into the river Colbert on the west side, 
above that of the Ilinois, almost opposite the mouth of the 
Miskoneing in the same river. I might name here a number 
of other tribes, with whom we had intercourse, and to whom 
French coureurs-de-bois, or lawfully sent, rambled while I 
was with the Ilinois, under favor of our discovery. 

The greater part of these tribes, and especially the Ilinois, 

* The Otontantas of Marquette’s real map. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 151 

with whom I have had intercourse, make their cabins of 
double mats of flat rushes sewed together. They are tall of 
stature, strong, and robust, and good archers; they had as 
yet, no firearms; we gave them some. They are, wander¬ 
ing, idle, fearful, and desolate, almost without respect for 
their chiefs, irritable, and thievish. Their villages are not 
enclosed with palisades, and being too cowardly to defend 
them, they take to flight at the first news of a hostile army. 
The richness and fertility of the country gives them fields 
everywhere. They have used iron implements and arms 
only since our arrival. Besides the bow, they use in war a 
kind of short pike, and wooden maces.* Hermaphrodites are 
numerous. They have many wives, and often take several 
sisters that they may agree better; and yet they are so jeal¬ 
ous that they cut off their noses on the slightest suspicion. 
They are lewd, and even unnaturally so, having boys dressed 
as women, destined for infamous purposes. These boys are 
employed only in women’s work, without taking part in the 
chase or war. They are very superstitious, although they 
have no religious worship. They are, besides, much given 
to play, like all the Indians in America, that I am able to 
know.f 

As there are in their country many serpents, these Indians 
know herbs much superior to our orvietan and theriaque, for 

* All agree in the great skill of the Illinois bowmen, and even as late as 
1692-3, when Rale was with them, they had not yet begun to use guns. 

f Neither Marquette nor Allouez first, nor Membre and Douay, afterward, 
allude to the mode of burial among the Illinois, which is stated by F. Rale, and 
deserves to be mentioned. “Their custom,” says he, “is not to bury the dead, 
but to wrap them in skins, and to attach them by the head and feet to the tops 
of trees.” See his letter in Kip’s “Jesuit Missions,” p. 38. The use made of this 
trait by the French poets is familiar to the readers of Delille. On the whole 
however, the various descriptions of the Illinois and their country by Marquette, 
Allouez, Membre, Hennepin, Douay, Ioutel, Tonty, Rale, and Marest, are remark¬ 
ably alike: all but those of the two last are contained in the present series of Hist. 
Collections, and these will be found in the translation of Mr. Kip, already cited. 


152 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


f 

•S 


after rubbing themselves with them, they can without fear 
play with the most venomous insects, and even put them 
some distance down their throat. They go perfectly naked 
in summer except the feet, which are covered with shoes of 
ox-liide, and in winter they protect themselves against the 
cold (which is piercing in these parts though of short dura¬ 
tion), with skins which they dress and card very neatly. 

Although we were almost destitute of succor, yet the sieur 
de Tonty never lost courage ; he kept up his position among 
the Ilinois either by inspiring them all the hopes which he 
built on the sieur de la Salle’s return, or by instructing them 
in the use of firearms, and many arts in the European way. 
As during the following summer a rumor ran that the Myamis 
wished to move and join the Iroquois, he taught them how to 
defend themselves by palisades, and even made them erect a 
kind of little fort with intrenchments, so that, had they had a 
little more courage, I have no doubt they would have been 
in a position to sustain themselves. 

Meanwhile, from the flight and desertion of our men about 
the middle of March to the month of September, Father Ga¬ 
briel and I devoted ourselves constantly to the mission. An 
Ilinois named Asapista, with whom the sieur de la Salle had 
contracted friendship, adopted Father Gabriel as his son, so 
that that good father found in his cabin a subsistence in the 
Indian fashion. As wine failed us for the celebration of the 
divine mysteries, we found means, toward the close of Au¬ 
gust, to get wild grapes which began to ripen, and we made 
very good wine which served us to say mass till the second 
disaster, which happened a few days after. The clusters of 
these grapes are of prodigious size, of very agreeable taste, 
and have seeds larger than those of Europe.* 


* In Brown’s “History of American Trees,” we fail to find any notice of the 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 153 

With regard to conversions, I can not rely on any. During 
the whole time Father Gabriel unraveled their language a 

o o 

little, and I can say that I spoke so as to make myself under¬ 
stood by the Indians on all that I wished; but there is in 
these savages such an alienation from the faith, so brutal and 
narrow a mind, such corrupt and antichristian morals, that 
great time would be needed to hope for any fruit. It is, how¬ 
ever, true that I found many of quite docile character. We 
baptized some dying children, and two or three dying per¬ 
sons who manifested proper dispositions. As these people are 
entirely material in their ideas, they would have submitted 
to baptism, had we liked, but without any knowledge of the 
sacrament. We found two who had joined us, and promised 
to follow us everywhere; we believed that they would keep 
their word, and that by this means we would insure their 
baptisms ; but I afterward felt great scruples when I learned 
than an Indian named Chassagouache, who had been bap¬ 
tized, had died in the hands of the medicine-men, abandoned 
to their superstitions, and consequently doubly a child of 
hell. 

During the summer, we followed our Indians in their 
camps, and to the chase. I also made a voyage to the My- 
amis to learn something of their dispositions ; thence I went 
to visit other villages of the Ilinois all, however, with no great 
success, finding only cause for chagrin at the deplorable state 
and blindness of these nations. It is such that I can not ex¬ 
press it fully. 

Thus far we enjoyed a pretty general peace, though mean- 

early wine-making in the country by the catholic missionaries. They were cer* 
tainly the first in the northern parts. Sagard, in his “History of Canada (eh. 
9), details the modus opercindi of probably the first wine-making in the country. 
The Jesuit missionaries were afterward frequently compelled to do so, in order 
to say mass, as we find repeated allusions to it in the Relations from Maine to 
the Mississippi 


154 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


while, a cruel war, which we knew not, was machinating. 
While we were still at Fort Frontenae, the year before the 
sieur cle la Salle learned that his enemies had, to baffle his 
designs, excited the Iroquois to resume their former hostilities 
against the Ilinois, which had been relinquished for several 
years. They sought too to draw the Myamis into the same 
war. This is a tribe which formerly dwelt beyond the II- 
inois, as regards the Iroquois and Fort Frontenae. They 
had persuaded them to invite the Iroquois by an embassy to 
join them against their common enemy; those who came to 
treat of this affair with the Iroquois, brought letters from some 
ill-disposed Frenchmen who had correspondents in those 
tribes, for there were at that time many coureurs de bois. 

The sieur de la Salle happened to be among the Senecas 
when this embassy arrived ; the moment seemed unfavorable, 
and the embassadors were privately warned that they risked 
their lives, if they did not depart as soon as possible, the sieur 
de la Salle being a friend of the Ilinois. The Myamis, how¬ 
ever, left his former country, and came and took up a posi¬ 
tion where he is now between the Iroquois and the Ilinois. 
This was afterward believed intentional, and we having to 
pass through both these nations suspected by each other, 
might become so to one of them who would then prevent our 
progress. Monsieur de la Salle, on his arrival at the Ilinois 
last year, made peace between the two nations; but as the 
Indians are very inconstant and faithless, the Iroquois and 
the Myamis afterward united against the Ilinois, by means 
which are differently related. 

Be that as it may, about the 10th of September, in the pres¬ 
ent year, 1680, the Ilinois allies of Chaouenons (Shawnees), 
were warned by a Shawnee, who was returning home from 
an Ilinois voyage, but turned back to advise them, that he 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 155 

had discovered an Iroquois army, four or five hundred strong, 
who had already entered tlieir territory. The scouts sent out 
by the Ilinois confirmed what the Shawnee had said, adding 
that the sieur de la Salle was there. For this there was no 
foundation, except that the Iroquois chief had a hat and a 
kind of vest. They at once talked of tomahawking us, but 
the sieur de Tonty undeceived them, and to show the falsity 
of the report, offered to go with the few men he had to fight 
the Iroquois with them. The Ilinois had already sent out to 
war the greater part of the young men, yet the next day they 
took the field against the enemy, whom the Myamis had rein¬ 
forced with a great number of their warriors. This multitude 
terrified the Ilinois; nevertheless, they recovered a little at 
the solicitation of the sieur de Tonty and the French; they at 
first mingled and wrangled, but the sieur de Tonty having 
grounds to fear for the Ilinois who had almost no firearms, 
offered to put matters in negotiation, and to go to the Iroquois 
as a man of peace, bearing the calumet. The latter hoping 
to surprise the Ilinois, and seeing their hopes baffled by the 
state in which they found them resolved for battle, received 
without any demur a man who came with a calumet of peace, 
telling them, that the Ilinois were his brothers, friends of the 
French, and under the protection of Ononto, their common fa¬ 
ther. I was beside the sieur de Tonty, when an Iroquois, whom 
I had known in the Seneca village, recognised me. These 
proposals for peace did not, however, please some young men 
whose hands itched for fight; suddenly a volley of balls and 
arrows came whizzing around us, and a young Onondaga ran 
up with a drawn knife and struck M. de Tonty near the 
heart, the knife fortunately glancing off a rib. They imme¬ 
diately surrounded him, and wished to carry him off; but 
when, by his ears, which were not pierced, they saw that he 


156 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


was a Frenchman, one of the Iroquois chiefs asked loudly, 
what they had meant by striking a Frenchman in that way? 
that he must he spared, and drew forth a belt of wampum to 
stanch the blood, and make a plaster for the wound. 
Nevertheless a mad young Iroquois having hoisted the sieur 
de Tonty’s hat on a gun to intimidate the Ilinois, the latter 
believing by this sign that Tonty was dead, we were all in 
danger of losing our heads; but the Iroquois having told us 
to show ourselves and stop both armies, we did so. The Iro¬ 
quois received the calumet and pretended to retire; but 
scarcely had the Ilinois reached his village, when the Iro¬ 
quois appeared on the opposite hills. 

This movement obliged the sieur de Tonty and the chiefs 
of the nation to depute me to these savages to know their 
reason. This was not a very agreeable mission to a savage 
tribe, with arms in their hands, especially after the risk I had 
already run; nevertheless, I made up my mind, and God 
preserved me from all harm. I spoke with them; they treated 
me very kindly, and at last told me, that the reason of their 
approach was, that they had nothing to eat. I made my re¬ 
port to the Ilinois, who gave them their fill, and even offered to 
trade for beaver and other furs, very abundant in those parts. 
The Iroquois agreed, hostages were given and received, and 
I went with an Ilinois to the enemy’s camp, where we slept. 
The Iroquois came in greater numbers into that of the Ilinois, 
and even advanced to their village, committing hostilities so 
far as to disinter the dead, and destroy their corn ; in a word, 
seeking a quarrel, under show of peace, they fortified them¬ 
selves in the village. The Ilinois, on the first announcement 
of war, had made their families draw off behind a hill, to put 
them out of sight, and enable them to reach the Mississippi, 
so that the Iroquois found the village empty. The Ilinois 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 157 

* 

warriors retired in troops on the hills, and even gradually dis¬ 
persed, so that we seeing ourselves abandoned by our hosts, 
who no longer appeared in force, and left alone exposed to 
to the fury of a savage and victorious enemy, were not long 
in resolving to retreat. The reverend father Gabriel, the 
sieur de Tonty, the few French who were with us, and my¬ 
self, began our march on the 18tli of September, without pro¬ 
visions, food, or anything, in a wretched bark canoe, which 
breaking the next day, compelled us to land about noon to 
repair it. Father Gabriel seeing the place of our landing fit 
for walking in the prairies and hills with little groves, as if 
planted by hand, retired there to say his breviary while we 
were working at the canoe all the rest of the day. We were 
full eight leagues from the village ascending the river. To¬ 
ward evening I went to look for the father seeing that he did 
not return; all our party did the same ; w r e fired repeatedly, 
to direct him, but in vain; and as we had reason to fear the 
Iroquois during the night, we crossed to the other side of the 
river and lit up fires which were also useless. The next 
morning at daybreak, we returned to the same side where 
we were the day before, and remained till noon, making all 
possible search. We entered the wood, where we found sev¬ 
eral fresh trails, as well as in the prairie on the bank of the 
river. We followed them one by one without discovering 
anything, except that M. de Tonty had ground to believe and 
fear that some hostile parties were in ambush to cut us all off, 
for seeing us take flight, the savages had imagined that we 
declared for the Ilinois. I insisted on staying to wait for pos¬ 
itive tidings; but the sieur de Tonty forced me to embark at 
three o’clock, maintaining that the father had been killed by 
the enemy, or else had walked on along the bank, so that fol¬ 
lowing it constantly, we should at last infallibly meet him. 


158 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


"We got, however, no tidings of him, and the more we ad¬ 
vanced, the more this affliction unmanned us, and we sup¬ 
ported this remnant of a languishing life by the potatoes and 
garlick, and other roots, that we found by scraping the 
ground with our fingers. 

We afterward learned that we should have expected him 
uselessly, as he had been killed soon after landing. The Kik- 
apous, a little nation you may observe on the west, quite near 
the Winnebagoes, had sent some of their youth in war-parties 
against the Iroquois, but learning that the latter were attack¬ 
ing the Ilinois, the war-party came after them. Three braves 
who formed a kind of advanced guard having met the good 
father alone, although they knew that he was not an Iroquois, 
killed him for all that, cast his body into a hole, and carried 
off even his breviary, and diurnal, which soon after came to 
the hands of a Jesuit father. They carried off the scalp of 
this holy man, and vaunted of it in their village as an Iroquois 
scalp. Thus died this man of God by the hands of some mad 
youths. We can say of his body what the Scripture remarks 
of those whom the sanguinary Herod immolated to his fury, 
“ Hon erat qui sepileret.” Surely he deserved a better fate, 
if, indeed, we can desire a happier one before God, than to 
die in the exercise of the apostolic functions, by the hands of 
nations to whom we are sent by God. He had not been 
merely a religious of common and ordinary virtue ; it is well 
known that he had in Canada, from 1670, maintained the 
same sanctity of life which he had shown in France as supe¬ 
rior, inferior, and master of novices. He had for a long time 
in transports of fervor acknowledged to me the profound 
grief which he felt at the utter blindness of these people, and 
that he longed to be an anathema for their salvation. His 
death, I doubt not, has been precious before God, and will 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


159 


one day liave its effect in the vocation of these people to the 
faith, when it shall please the Almighty to use his great 
mercy.* 

We must admit that this good old man, quite extenuated 
like ourselves by want of everything, would not have been 
able, to support the hardships we had to go through after 
that. The sieur de Tonty and de Boisrondet, and two other 
Frenchmen with myself, had still eighty leagues to make to 
the Pottawatamis. Our canoe often failed us, and leaked on 
all sides. After some days we had to leave it in the woods, 
and make the rest of our journey by land, walking barefooted 
over the snow and ice. I made shoes for my companions 
and myself, of Father Gabriel’s cloak. As we had no com¬ 
pass, we frequently got lost, and found ourselves in the eve¬ 
ning where we had started in the morning, with no other food 
than acorns and little roots. At last, after fifteen days’ march, 
we killed a deer, which w r as a great help to us. The sieur de 

* Of this estimable missionary, we know little but what was given in Hennepin. 
He was, we are assured, the last scion of a noble Burgundian house, who not 
only renounced his inheritance and the world, to enrol himself among the lowly 
children of St. Francis, but even when advanced in life, and honored with the 
first dignities of his order, sought the new and toilsome mission of Canada. He 
came out among the first Recollect fathers in the summer of 1670; and, on the 
return of the provincial, F. Allart to France, became commissary and first 
superior of the mission, as well as confessor to Frontenac. He restored such 
missions as circumstances enabled him to begin, and guided his little flock with 
such moderation and skill in the troublous times on which he had fallen that lie 
acquired the veneration and respect of all parties. His moderation, was not, in¬ 
deed, liked by all, and a few years after, F. Eustace Maupassant was sent out to 
succeed him, and the venerable Ribourde was sent as missionary to Fort Fron¬ 
tenac, but not before he had witnessed the consecration of their church at 
Quebec. He was subsequently joined by Buisset and Hennepin, and consulting 
his zeal rather than his age, embarked with La Salle. The date of his death 
is September 9, 1680; he was then in the seventieth year of his age, and had 
spent more than forty in the religious state, and, as master of novices, trained 
many to imitate his zeal and virtues. “This holy religious,” with Membre, who 
was to perish in the same unknown way, are among the earliest missionaries 
of Illinois. 


160 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


Boisrondet lost ns, and for at least ten days, we thought him 
dead. As he had a tin cup, he melted it to make balls for 
his gun, which had no flint. By firing it with a coal, he 
killed some turkeys, on which he lived during that time; at 
last we fortunately met at the Pottawatami village, where 
their chief, Onanghisse, quite well known among those na¬ 
tions, welcomed us most cordially. He used to say, that he 
knew only three great captains, M. de Frontenac, M. de la 
Salle, and himself. This chief harangued all his people who 
contributed to furnish us food. Hot one of us could stand for 
weakness; we were like skeletons, the sieur de Tonty ex¬ 
tremely sick, but being a little recruited, I found some In¬ 
dians going to the bay of the Fetid, where the Jesuits have a 
house.* I accordingly set out for it, and can not express the 
hardships I had to undergo on the way. The sieur de Tonty 
followed us soon after with the rest. We can not sufficiently 
acknowledge the charity these good fathers displayed toward 
us until the thaws began, when we set out with Father Enjal- 
ran in a canoe for Missilimakinac, hoping to find news there 
from Canada. 

From the Ilinois, we had always followed the route by 
the north, had God permitted us to take that by the south of 
Lake Dauphin, we should have met the sieur de la Salle who 
was coming with well-furnislied canoes from Fort Frontenac, 
and had gone by the south to the Ilinois, where he expected 

* This is more frank than Hennepin, who in his first edition mentions neither 
those at Green Bay, nor those at Mackinaw, and would have us believe that he 
was the only missionary to be found in these parts. In his last edition he 
acknowledges that he met his countryman, Father Pierson, at Mackinaw. He 
must have passed Green Bay a few days before the arrival of Membr6, which was 
about October 22, as Tonty seems to say (vol. i., p. 59), and Hennepin started 
for Green Bay by the Wisconsin, in the close of September. They failed to meet 
at Mackinaw, also, for Hennepin left it at Easter, and Membre reached only on 
the octave of Corpus Christi. This will account for the silence of both as to 
each other. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 161 

to find ns with all his people in good order as he had left ns, 
when he started in the preceding year (March 2d, 1680). 

This he told ns himself when he arrived at Missilimakinac, 
abont the middle of June, when he found us a little restored 
from our sufferings. I leave you to conceive our mutual joy, 
damped, though it was, by the narrative he made us of all 
his misfortunes, and by that we made him of our tragical ad¬ 
ventures. He told us, that after our departure from Fort 
Frontenac, they had excited his creditors before the time to 
seize his property and all his effects, on a rumor which had 
been spread, that he had been drowned with all his people. 
He told us that his ship, the Griffin, had perished in the 
lakes a few days after leaving the bay of the Fetid; that the 
captain, sailors, and more than ten thousand crowns in mer¬ 
chandise, had been lost and never heard of. 'He had sent 
little fleets of canoes to trade right and left on Lake Fron¬ 
tenac ; but these wretches, he told us, had profited by the prin¬ 
cipal and the trade, without his being able to obtain any jus¬ 
tice from those who should have rendered it, notwithstanding 
all the efforts made by M. de Frontenac, the governor in his 
favor ; that to complete his misfortunes, a vessel coming from 
France with a cargo for his account, amounting to twenty- 
two thousand livres, had been wrecked on St. Peter’s islands 
in the gulf of St. Lawrence; that canoes ascending from Mon¬ 
treal to Fort Frontenac loaded with goods, had been lost in 
the rapids; in a word, that except the count de Frontenac, 
all Canada seemed in league against his undertaking; the 
men he had brought from France had been seduced from 
him, some had run off with his goods to Hew York, and as 
regarded the Canadians who had joined him, means had 
been found to work upon them, and draw them from his in¬ 
terests. 

11 


l 


I 


162 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 

Although lie had left Fort Frontenac in his bark on the 
23d of July, 1680, he was detained on the lake by head 
winds so that he could not reach the straits of lake de Conty 
till the close of August. All seemed to oppose his under¬ 
taking ; embarking in the beginning of September, on Lake 
de Conty, he had been detained with M. de la Forrest, his 
lieutenant and all his men, at Missilimakinac, being unable 
to obtain corn for goods or money; but at last, as it was ab¬ 
solutely necessary, he was obliged, after three weeks’ stay, to 
buy some for liquor, and in one day he got sixty sacks. 

lie left there the 4th of October, and on the 28th of No¬ 
vember, reached the Myamis’ river, where he left a ship-car¬ 
penter and some of his people; then pushing on, reached the 
Ilinois on the first of December. There he was greatly sur¬ 
prised to find their great village burnt and empty. The rest 
of the time was spent in a journey to the Myamis’ river, 
where he went to join his men forty leagues from the Ilinois. 
Thence he passed to different tribes, among others to an Out- 
agamis village, where he found some Ilinois, who related to 
him the unhappy occurrences of the preceding year. 

lie learned, moreover, that after our flight and departure, 
from the Ilinois, their warriors had returned from the Na- 
douessiouz, where they had been at war, and that there had 
been several engagements with equal loss on both sides, and 
that, at last, of the seventeen Ilinois villages, the greater part 
had retired beyond the river Colbert, among the Ozages, two 
hundred leagues from their country, where too a part of the 
Iroquois had pursued them. 

At the same time the sieur de la Salle intrigued with the 
Outagami chiefs, whom he drew into his interests and those 
of the Ilinois; thence he passed to the Myamis, whom he in¬ 
duced by presents and arguments to leave the Iroquois and 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 163 

join tlie Ilinois; he sent two of his men and two Abenaquis 
to announce this to the Ilinois, and prevent new acts of hos¬ 
tility, and to recall the dispersed tribes. To strengthen both 
more, he sent others with presents to the Shawnees to invite 
them to come and join the Ilinois against the Iroquois, who 
carried their wars even to them. All this had succeeded 
when M. de la Salle left on the 22d of May, 1681, to return 
to Missilimakinac, where he expected to find us. If we 
wish to settle in these parts, and see the faith make any prog¬ 
ress, it is absolutely necessary to maintain peace and union 
among all these tribes, as well as among others more remote, 
against the common enemy, that is the Iroquois, who never 
makes a real peace with any whom he has once beaten, or 
whom he hopes to overcome by the divisions which he art¬ 
fully excites, so that we should be daily exposed to routs like 
that to which we were subjected last year. M. de la Salle 
convinced of this necessity, has since our return, purchased 
the whole Ilinois country,* and has given cantons to the Shaw¬ 
nees, who there colonize in large families. 

The sieur de la Salle related to us all his hardships and 
voyages, as well as all his misfortunes, and learned from us 
as many regarding him ; yet never did I remark in him the 
least alteration, always maintaining his ordinary coolness and 
self-possession. Any one but him would have renounced and 
abandoned the enterprise; but far from that, by a firmness 
of mind, and an almost unequalled constancy, I saw him 
more resolute than ever to continue his work, and to carry 
out his discovery. We accordingly left for Fort Frontenac, 
with his whole party to adopt new measures to resume and 
complete our course with the help of Heaven, in which we put 
all our trust. 


* See his second patent in the Appendix. 


NARRATIVE 


OF 

LA SALLE’S VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI, 

BY 

FATHER ZENOBIUS MEMBRA] RECOLLECT . 


M LA SALLE having arrived safely at the Miamies on 
# the 3d of November, 1681, began with his ordinary 
activity and vast mind, to make all preparations for his de¬ 
parture. He selected twenty-three Frenchmen, and eighteen 
Mohegans and Abnakis,* all inured to war. The latter in- 

* The Mohegans, whose name is generally translated by old French writers, 
who call them “ Loups ,” or “Wolves,” were hereditary enemies of the Iroquois. 
They were known to the French as early as the time of Champlain, who calls 
them “Mayganathicoise.” It is needless here to follow the varieties in orthog¬ 
raphy which it underwent. The Iroquois called them “Agotsagenens” (F. Jogues’ 
MS.). Their relations with their European neighbors seem always to have been 
friendly, and they never apparently warred on either English, Dutch, or French, 
although their position between the Hudson and Connecticut exposed them to 
frequent occasions of trouble. Though never really the allies of the French, the 
hostility of the Iroquois to both brought them in contact, so that Mohegans fre¬ 
quently figure in small parties in French campaigns. 

The Abnakis were a people of Maine, and like the Mohegans of the Algonquin 
family. They were originally allies of the English, who called them “Taranteens,” 
but the unwise policy of the New England colonies compelled them to join the 
French. Their conversion to the catholic religion, which they still profess, 
tended still more to embitter the colonies against them, and long and bloody 
wars resulted, in which the Abnakis, forsaken by the French, were at last hum¬ 
bled. They now form about five villages in Maine and Canada. 



166 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


sisted on taking along ten of their women to cook for them, 
as their custom is, while they were fishing or hunting. These 
women had three children, so that the whole party consisted 
of but fifty-four persons, including the sieur de Tonty and the 
sieur Dautrav, son of the late sieur Bourdon, procurator-gene¬ 
ral of Quebec. 

On tlie 21st of December, I embarked with the sieur de 
Tonty and a part of our people on Lake Dauphin (Michigan), 
to go toward the divine river, called by the Indians Checa- 
gou, in order to make necessary arrangements for our voyage. 
The sieur de la Salle joined us there with the rest of his troop 
on the 4th of January, 1682, and found that Tonty had had 
sleighs made to put all on and carry it over the Chicago 
which was frozen; for though the winter in these parts is 
only two months long, it is notwithstanding very severe. 

We had to make a portage to enter the Ilinois river, 
which we found also frozen; we made it on the 27th of the 
same month, and dragging our canoes, baggage, and provis¬ 
ions, about eighty leagues on the river Seignelay (Ilinois), 
which runs into the river Colbert (Mississippi), we traversed 
the great Ilinois town without finding any one there, the In¬ 
dians having gone to winter thirty leagues lower down on 
Lake Pimiteoui (Peoria), where Fort Crevecoeur stands. We 
found it in a good state, and La Salle left his orders here. 
As from this spot navigation is open at all seasons, and free 
from ice, we embarked in our canoes, and on the 6th of Feb¬ 
ruary, reached the mouth of the river Seignelay, at 38° 
north. The floating ice on the river Colbert, at this place, 
kept us till the 13th of the same month, when we set out, and 
six leagues lower down, found the Ozage (Missouri) river, 
coming from the west. It is full as large as the river Colbert 
into which it empties troubling it so, that from the mouth of 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


167 


the Ozage the water is hardly drinkable. The Indians as¬ 
sure us that this river is formed by many others, and that 
they ascend it for ten or twelve days to a mountain where it 
rises; that beyond this mountain is the sea where they see 
great ships; that on the river are a great number of large 
villages, of many different nations ; that there are arable and 
prairie-lands, and abundance of cattle and beaver. Although 
this river is very large, the Colbert does not seem augmented 
by it; but it pours in so much mud, that from its mouth the 
water of the great river, whose bed is also slimy, is more like 
clear mud than river water, without changing at all till it 
reaches the sea, a distance of more than three hundred 
leagues, although it receives seven large rivers, the water of 
which is very beautiful, and which are almost as large as the 
Mississippi. 

On the 14th, six leagues further, we found on the east the 
village of the Tamaroas,* who had gone to the chase; we 
left there marks of our peaceful coming, and signs of our 
route, according to practice, in such voyages. We went 
slowly, because we were obliged to hunt and fish almost 
daily, not having been able to bring any provisions but In¬ 
dian corn. 

Forty leagues from Tamaroa is the river Oiiabache (Ohio), 
where we stopped. From the mouth of this river you must 
advance forty-two leagues without stopping, because the 
banks are low and marshy, and full of thick foam, rushes and 
walnut trees. 

On the 24th, those whom we sent to hunt all returned but 
Peter Prudhomme; the rest reported that they had seen an 

* The Tamaroas or Maroas were an Illinois tribe, who long had their village 
in this quarter. After their conversion to Christianity, they and the Cahokias 
were under the spiritual guidance of the priests of the Seminary of Foreign Mis¬ 
sions. At this period no missionary had reached them. 


168 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


Indian trail, which made ns suppose our Frenchman killed 
or taken. This induced the sieur de la Salle to throw up a 
fort and intrenchment, and to put some French and In¬ 
dians on the trail. None relaxed their efforts till the first of 
March, when Gabriel Minime and two Mohegans took two 
of five Indians whom they discovered. They said, that they 
belonged to the Sicacha (Chickasaw) nation, and that their 
village was a day and a half off. After showing them every 
kindness, I set out with the sieur de la Salle and half our 
party to go there, in hopes of learning some news of Prud- 
homme ; but after having travelled the distance stated, we 
showed the Indians that we were displeased with their du¬ 
plicity ; they then told us frankly, that we were still three 
days off. (These Indians generally count ten or twelve 
leagues to a day.) We returned to the camp, and one of the 
Indians having offered to remain while the other carried the 
news to the village, La Salle gave him some goods, and he 
set out after giving us to understand that we should meet 
their nation on the bank of the river as we descended. 

At last Prudhomme, who had been lost, was found on the 
ninth day, and brought back to the fort, so that we set out 
the next day, which was foggy. Having sailed forty leagues 
till the third of March, we heard drums beating and sasa- 
couest (war cries) on our right. Perceiving that it was an 
Akansa village, the sieur de la Salle immediately passed 
over to the other side with all his force, and in less than an 
hour threw up a retrenched redoubt on a point, with pali¬ 
sades, and felled trees to prevent a surprise, and give the In¬ 
dians time to recover confidence. He then made some of 
his party advance on the bank of the river, and invite the 
Indians to come to us. The chiefs sent out a periagua (these 
are large wooden canoes, made of a hollow tree like little 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 169 

batteaux), which came within gun-shot. We offered them 
the calumet of peace, and two Indians advancing, by signs 
invited the French to come to them. On this the sieur de la 
Salle sent a Frenchman and two Abnakis, who were received 
and regaled with many tokens of friendship. Six of the 
principal men brought him back in the same periagua, and 
came into the redoubt where the sieur de la Salle made them 
presents of tobacco and some goods. On their side they 
gave us some slaves, and the most important chief invited us 
to go to the village to refresh ourselves, which we readily 
did. 

All those of the village, except the women, who had at 
first taken flight, came to the bank of the river to receive us. 
Here they built us cabins, brought us wood to burn, and pro¬ 
visions in abundance. For three days they feasted us con¬ 
stantly ; the women now returned, brought us Indian corn, 
beans, flour, and various kinds of fruits; and we, in return, 
made them other little presents, which they admired greatly. 

These Indians do not resemble those at the north, who are 
all sad and severe in their temper; these are far better made, 
honest, liberal, and gay. Even the young are so modest, that 
though they had a great desire to see La Salle, they kept 
quietly at the doors not daring to come in. 

We saw great numbers of domestic fowls, flocks of turkeys, 
tame bustards, many kinds of fruits, peaches already formed 
on the trees, although it was only the beginning of March. 

On the 14th of the same month, the sieur de la Salle took 
possession of this country with great ceremony. He planted 
a cross, and set up the king’s arms, at which the Indians 
showed a great joy. T ou can talk much to Indians by signs, 
and those with us managed to make themselves a little under¬ 
stood in their language. I took occasion to explain some- 


170 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBER. 

tiling of the truth of God, and the mysteries of our redemp¬ 
tion, of which they saw the arms. During this time they 
showed that they relished what I said, by raising their eyes to 
heaven, and kneeling as if to adore. We also saw them rub 
their hands over their bodies after rubbing them over the 
cross. In fact, on our return from the sea, we found that 
they had surrounded the cross "with a palisade. They finally 
gave us provisions and men, to conduct us, and serve as in¬ 
terpreters with the Taensa, their allies, who are eighty leagues 
distant from their village. 

On the 17th we continued our route, and six leagues lower 
down we found another village of the same Akansa nation, 
and then another three leagues lower, the people of which 
were of the same kind, and received us most hospitably.* 
We gave them presents and tokens of our coming in peace 
and friendship. 

On the 22cl we reached the Taensa, who dwell around a 

* Amid the conflict of names to be found in early narratives, it is a relief to 
meet so much uniformity relative to the Akansas. It is not, indeed, easy to rec¬ 
ognise them in the Quigata, Quipana, Pacaha, or Cayas, of De Soto’s expedition. 
Marquette, in his journal, first gives the name, “Akamsea,” which has remained 
to this day on his map. lie gives near them the Papikaha, and Atotchasi. 
Father Membre here mentions three towns of the tribe, but does not name 
them. Tonty does, and has on the Mississippi the Kappas, and inland the Toy- 
engan or Tongenga, the Toriman, and the Osotonoy or Assotoue. The latter is, 
indeed, his post, but, old deeds show a village lay opposite, which probably 
gave its name. On the next expedition, Father Anastasius writes Kappa, Do- 
ginga, Toriman, and Osotteoez, which Joutel repeats, changing Doginga to Ton¬ 
genga, and Osotteoez to Otsotchove. In 1721, Father Charlevoix writes them 
the Kappas, Foremans, Topingas, and Sothouis, adding another tribe, the Ouya- 
pes, though there were still but four villages. In 1729, Father Poisson places 
them all on the Arkansas — the Tourimans and Tongingas, nine leagues from 
the mouth by the lower branch, the Sauthouis three leagues further, and the 
Kappas still higher up. 

The only material difference is in the Atotchasi, Otsotchove, Osotteoez, 
Ossotonoy, Assotoue, or Sothouis, in which, however, there is similarity enough 
to establish identity. They call themselves Oguapas, and never use the term 
“Arkansas.”— (A T uttal.) 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


in 


little lake formed in the land by the river Mississippi. They 
have eight villages. The walls of their houses are made of 
earth mixed with straw; the roof is of canes, which form a 
dome adorned with paintings; they have wooden beds, and 
much other furniture, and even ornaments in their temples, 
where they inter the bones of their chiefs. They are dressed 
in white blankets made of the bark of a tree which they spin ; 
their chief is absolute, and disposes of all without consulting 
anybody. He is attended by slaves, as are all his family. 
Food is brought him outside his cabin; drink is given him in a 
particular cup, with much neatness. Ilis wives and children 
are similarly treated, and the other Taensa address him with 
respect and ceremony. 

The sieur de la Salle being fatigued and unable to go into 
the town, sent in the sieur de Tonty and myself with presents. 
The chief of this nation not content with sending him provis¬ 
ions and other presents, wished also to see him, and accord¬ 
ingly, two hours before the time a master of ceremonies came, 
followed by six men; he made them clear the way he was to 
pass, prepare a place, and cover it with a delicately-worked 
cane-mat. The chief who came some time after was dressed 
in a fine white cloth, or blanket. He was preceded by two 
men, carrying fans of white feathers. A third carried a cop¬ 
per plate, and a round one of the same metal, both highly 
polished. He maintained a very grave demeanor during this 
visit, which was, however, full of confidence and marks of 
friendship. 

The whole country is covered with palm-trees, laurels of 
two kinds, plums, peaches, mulberry, apple, and pear trees 
of every kind. There are also five or six kinds of nut-trees, 
some of which bear nuts of extraordinary size. They also 
gave ns several kinds of dried fruit to taste ; we found them 


172 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


large and good. They have also many other kinds of fruit- 
trees which I never saw in Europe; but the season was too 
early to allow us to see the fruit. We observed vines already 
out of blossom. The mind and character of this people ap¬ 
peared on the whole docile and manageable, and even capa¬ 
ble of reason. I made them understand all I wished about 
our mysteries. They conceived pretty well the necessity of 
a God, the creator and director of all, but attribute this di¬ 
vinity to the sun. Religion may be greatly advanced among 
them, as well as among the Akansas, both these nations being 
half civilized. 

Our guides would go no further for fear of falling into the 
hands of their enemies, for the people on one shore are gene¬ 
rally enemies of those on the other. There are forty vil¬ 
lages on the east, and thirty-four on the west, of all of which 
we were told the names. 

The 26th of March resuming our course, we perceived, 
twelve leagues lower down, a periagua or wooden canoe, to 
which the sieur de Tonty gave chase, till approaching 
the shore, we perceived a great number of Indians. The 
sieur de la Salle, with his usual precaution, turned to the op¬ 
posite banks, and then sent the calumet of peace by the sieur 
de Tonty. Some of the chief men crossed the river to come 
to us as good friends. They were fishermen of the Nachi6 
tribe (Natchez), enemies of the Taensa. Although their vil¬ 
lage lay three leagues inland, the sieur de la Salle did not 
hesitate to go there with a part of our force. We slept there, 
and received as kindly a welcome as we could expect; the 
sieur de la Salle, whose very air, engaging manners, and 
skilful mind, command alike love and respect, so impressed 
the heart of these Indians, that they did not know how to 
treat us well enough. They would gladly have kept us with 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 173 

them; and even in sign of their esteem, that night informed 
the Koroa,* their ally, whose chief and head men came the 
next day to the village, where they paid their obeisance to 
the king of the French, in the person of the sieur de la Salle, 
who was well able to exalt in every quarter the power and 
glory of his nation. 

After having planted the king’s arms under the cross, and 
made presents to the Kachie, we returned to the camp the 
next day with the head men of the town, and the Koroa 
chief, who accompanied us to his village, situated ten leagues 
below, on a beautiful eminence, surrounded on one side by 
fine corn lands, and on the other by beautiful prairies. This 
chief presented the sieur de la Salle with a calumet, and 
feasted him and all his party. We here, as elsewhere, made 
presents in return. They told us that we had still ten days 
to sail to the sea. 

The Sicacha (Chickasaw) whom we had brought thus far, 
obtained leave to remain in the village, which we left on 
Easter Sunday, the 29th of March, after having celebrated 
the divine mysteries for the French, and fulfilled the duties 
of good Christians. For our Indians, though of the most 
advanced and best instructed, were not yet capable. 

About six leagues below, the river divides into two arms, 
or channels, forming a great island, which must be more than 
sixty leagues long. We followed the channel on the right? 
although we had intended to take the other, but passed it in a 
fog without seeing it. We had a guide with us, who pointed 
it out by signs; but his canoe being then behind, those in it 
neglected when the Indian told them to overtake us, for we 
were considerably ahead. We were informed that, on the 

* Marquette’s map mentions this tribe as lying inland, on the western side. 
He writes it “Akoroa.” 


174 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


other channel, there are ten different nations, numerous, and 
well-disposed. 

On the second of April, after having sailed forty leagues, 
we perceived some fishermen on the bank of the river; they 
took flight, and we immediately after heard sasacouest, that 
is, war-cries, and beating of drums. It was the Quinipissa 
nation. Four Frenchmen were sent to offer them the calu¬ 
met of peace, with orders not to fire; hut they had to return 
in hot haste, because the Indians let fly a shower of arrows 
at them. Four of our Moliegans, who went soon after, met 
no better welcome. This obliged the sieur de la Salle to con¬ 
tinue his route, till two leagues lower down, we entered a vil¬ 
lage of the Tangibao,* which had been recently sacked and 
plundered ; we found there three cabins full of human bodies 
dead for fifteen or sixteen days. 

At last, after a navigation of about forty leagues, we ar¬ 
rived, on the sixth of April, at a point where the river divides 
into three channels. The sieur de la Salle divided his party 
the next day into three bands, to go and explore them. He 
took the western, the sieur Dautray the southern, the sieur 
Tonty, whom I accompanied, the middle one. These three 
channels are beautiful and deep. The water is brackish; 
after advancing two leagues it became perfectly salt, and 
advancing on, we discovered the open sea, so that on the 
ninth of April, with all possible solemnity, we performed the 
ceremony of planting the cross and raising the arms of 
France. After we had chanted the hymn of the church, 
u Vexilla Kegis,” and the “Te Deum,” the sieur de la Salle, 
in the name of his majesty, took possession of that river, of 
all rivers that enter it, and of all the country watered by 
them. An authentic act was drawn up, signed by all of us 

* Called in act of possession, “ Maheouala.” 


i 


» 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 175 

there, and amid a volley from all our muskets, a leaden plate 
inscribed with the arms of France, and the names of those 
who had just made the discovery, was deposited in the earth * 
The sieur de la Salle, who always carried an astrolabe, took 
the latitude of the mouth. Although he kept to himself the 
exact point, we have learned that the river falls into the gulf 
of Mexico, between 27° and 28° north, and, as is thought, at 
the point where maps lay down the Rio Escondido. This 
mouth is about thirty leagues distant from the Rio Bravo, 
(Rio Grande), sixty from the Rio de Palmas, and ninety or 
a hundred leagues from the river Panuco (Tampico), where 
the nearest Spanish post on the coast is situated. We reck¬ 
oned that Espiritu Santo bay (Appalachee Bay), lay north¬ 
east of the mouth. From the Ilinois’ river, we always went 
south or southwest; the river winds a little, preserves to the 
sea its breadth of about a quarter of a league, is everywhere 
very deep, without banks, or any obstacle to navigation, al¬ 
though the contrary has been published.f This river is reckoned 
eight hundred leagues long; we travelled at least three hun¬ 
dred and fifty from the mouth of the river Seignelay. 

We were out of provisions, and found only some dried 
meat at the mouth, which we took to appease our hunger; 
but soon after perceiving it to be human flesh, we left the 
rest to our Indians. It was very good and delicate. At last 
on the tenth of April, we began to remount the river, living 
only on potatoes and crocodiles (alligators). The country is 
so bordered with canes, and so low in this part, that we could 
not hunt, without a long halt. On the twelfth we slept at the 

* See De la Salle’s proces verbal of the taking possession of Louisiana, in the 
Hist. Coll, of Louisiana , vol. i., p. 45. 

f We do not know to what Father Membre refers. Marquette’s work makes 
no such assertion of the Mississippi. Hennepin, indeed, says that an Illinois had 
eo stated before La Salle went down .—Description de la Louisiane, p. 177. 


176 


NAEEATIVE OF FATHEE MEMBEE. 


village of the Tangibao, and as the sieur de la Salle wished to 
have corn willingly or by force . . . Our Abnakis perceived, on 
the thirteenth, as we advanced, a great smoke near. "We 
thought that this might be the Quinipissa, who had fired on 
us some days before; those whom we sent out to reconnoitre 
brought in four women of the nation, on the morning of the 
fourteenth, and we went and encamped opposite the village. 
After dinner some periaguas came toward us, to brave us; 
but the sieur de la Salle having advanced in person with the 
calumet of peace, on their refusal to receive it, a gun was 
fired which terrified these savages who had never seen fire¬ 
arms. They called it thunder, not understanding how a 
wooden stick could vomit fire, and kill people so far off with¬ 
out touching them. This obliged the Indians to take flight, 
although in great force, armed in their manner. At last the 
sieur de la Salle followed them to the other side, and put one 
woman on the shore with a present of axes, knives, and 
beads, giving her to understand that the other three should 
follow soon, if she brought some Indian corn. The next day 
a troop of Indians having appeared, the sieur de la Salle 
went to meet them, and concluded a peace, receiving and 
giving hostages. He then encamped near their village, and 
they brought us some little corn. We at last went up to the 
village, where these Indians had prepared us a feast in their 
fashion. They had notified their allies and neighbors, so 
that, when we went to enjoy the banquet in a large square, 
we saw a confused mass of armed savages arrive one after 
another. We were, however, welcomed by the chiefs, but 
having ground for suspicion, each kept his gun ready, and 
the Indians seeing it, durst not attack us. 

The sieur de la Salle retired with all his people, and his 
hostages into his camp, and give up the Quinipissa women. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 177 

The next morning before daybreak, our sentinel reported 
that he heard a noise among the canes on the banks of the 
river. The sieur Dautray said that it was nothing; but the 
sieur de la Salle, always on the alert, having already heard 
noise, called to arms. As we instantly heard war-cries, 
and arrows were fired from quite near us, we kept up a 
brisk fire, although it began to rain. Day broke, and after 
tw*o hours’ fighting, and the loss of ten men killed on their 
side, and many wounded, they took to flight, without any of 
us having been injured. Our people wished to go and bum 
the village of these traitors; but the sieur de la Salle pru¬ 
dently wished only to make himself formidable to this nation, 
without exasperating it, in order to manage them in time of 
need. We, however, destroyed many of their canoes. They 
were near, but contented themselves with running away and 
shouting. Our Mohegans took only two scalps. 

We set out then the evening of the same day, the eighth- 
teenth of April, and arrived on the first of May, at the Koroa, 
after having suffered much from want of provisions. The 
Koroa had been notified by the Quinipissa, their allies, and 
had, with the intention of avenging them, assembled Indians 
of several villages, making a very numerous army, which ap¬ 
peared on the shores, and often approached us to reconnoitre. 
As this nation had contracted friendship with us on our 
voyage down, we were not a little surprised at the change; 
but they told us the reason, which obliged us to keep on our 
guard. The sieur de la Salle even advanced intrepidly, so 
that the Indians durst not undertake anything. 

When we passed going down, we were pretty well pro¬ 
vided with Indian corn, and had put a quantity in cache, 
pretty near their village. We found it in good condition; 
and having taken it up, continued our route ; but were sur- 

12 


178 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


prised to see the Indian corn at this place, which, the twenty- 
ninth of March, was just sprouting from the ground, already 
fit to eat, and we then learned that it ripened in fifty days. 
We also remarked other corn four inches above ground. 

We set out then the same day, the first of May in the 

% 

evening, and after seeing several different nations on the fol¬ 
lowing days, and renewed our alliance with the Taensa, wdio 
received us perfectly well, we arrived at the Akansa where 
we were similarly received. We left it on the eighteenth, the 
sieur de la Salle went on with two canoes of our Mohegans and 
pushed on to a hundred leagues below the river Seignelay, 
where he fell sick. We joined him there with the rest of 
the troop on the second of June. As his malady was dan¬ 
gerous, and brought him to extremity, unable to advance any 
further, he was obliged to send forward the sieur de Tonty 
for the Ilinois and Miamis, to take up our caches , and put 
everything in order, appointing Tonty to command there. 
But at last the malady of the sieur de la Salle, which lasted 
forty days, during which I assisted him to my utmost, having 
somewhat abated, we started at the close of July, by slow 
journeys. At the end of September, we reached the Miami 
river, where we learned of several military expeditions made 
by the sieur de Tonty after he had left us. He had left the 
sieur Dautray, and the sieur Cochois among the Miamis, and 
other people among the Ilinois, with two hundred new cabins 
of Indians, who were going to repeople that nation. The said 
sieur de Tonty pushed on to Missilimakinac, to render an ac¬ 
count, more at hand, of our discovery to the governor, the 
count de Frontenac, on behalf of the sieur de la Salle, who 
prepared to retrace his steps to the sea the next spring with 
a larger force, and families to begin establishments. 

The river Seignelay is very beautiful, especially below the 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 179 

Ilinois (Indians), wide and deep, forming two lakes as far as 
tlie sea ( j-usqu'a la mer\ edged with hills, covered with 
beautiful trees of all kinds, whence you discern vast prairies 
on which herds of wild-cattle pasture in confusion. The river 
often overflows, and renders the country around marshy, for 
twenty or thirty leagues from the sea * The soil around is 
good, capable of producing all that can be desired for sub¬ 
sistence. We even found hemp there growing wild, much 
finer than that of Canada. The whole country on this river 
is charming in its aspect. 

It is the same with what we have visited on the river Col¬ 
bert. When you are twenty or thirty leagues below the 
Maroa, the banks are full of canes until you reach the sea, 
except in fifteen or twenty places where there are very pretty 
hills, and spacious, convenient, landing-places. The inunda¬ 
tion does not extend far, and behind these drowned lands 
you see the finest country in the world. Our hunters, French 
and Indian, w T ere delighted with it. For an extent of at least 
two hundred leaguQS in length, and as much in breadth, as 
we were told, there are vast fields of excellent land, diversi¬ 
fied here and there with pleasing hills, lofty woods, groves 
through which you might ride on horseback, so clear and 
unobstructed are the paths. These little forests also line the 
rivers which intersect the country in various places, and 
which abound in fish. The crocodiles are dangerous here, so 
much so that in some parts no one would venture to expose 
himself, or even put his hand out of his canoe. The Indians 
told us that these animals often dragged in their people, 
where they could anywhere get hold of them. 

The fields are full of all kinds of game, wild-cattle, stags, 

* I can not see what he means by the term sea in these two places; unless in 
tlie former it means the mouth, and in the latter, the bed of the river. 


180 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


does, deer, bears, turkeys, partridges, parrots, quails, wood¬ 
cock, wild-pigeons, and ring-doves. There are also beaver, 
otters, martens, till a hundred leagues below the Maroa, es¬ 
pecially in the river of the Missouri, the Ouabache, that of the 
Chepousseau (the Cumberland?), which is opposite it, and on 
all the smaller ones in this part; but we could not learn that 
there were any beavers on this side toward the sea. 

There are no wild beasts, formidable to man. That which 
is called Michybichy never attacks man, although it de¬ 
vours the strongest beasts •, its head is like that of a lynx, 
though much larger; the body long and large like a deer’s, 
but much more slender; the legs also shorter, the paws like 
those of a wild-cat, but much larger, with longer and stronger 
claws, which it uses to kill the beasts it would devour. It 
eats a little, then carries off the rest on its back, and hides it 
under some leaves, where ordinarily no other beast of prey 
touches it. Its skin and tail resemble those of a lion, to 
which it is inferior only in size. 

The cattle of this country surpass our§ in size ; their head 
is monstrous, and their look frightful, on account of the long, 
black hair with which it is surrounded, and which hangs be¬ 
low the chin, and along the houghs of this animal. It has on 
the back a kind of upright crests (coste), of which that near¬ 
est the neck is longest, the others diminish gradually to the 
middle of the back. The hair is fine, and scarce inferior to 
wool. The Indians wear their skins which they dress very 
neatly with earth, which serves also for paint. These ani¬ 
mals are easily approached, and never fly from you; they 
could be easily domesticated. 

There is another little animal (the opposum) like a rat, 
though as large as a cat, with silvery hair sprinkled with 
black. The tail is bare, as thick as a large finger, and about 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 181 

afoot long; with this it suspends itself, when it is on the 
hi cinches of trees. It has under the belly a kind of pouch, 
where it carries its young when pursued. 

The Indians assured us that inland, toward the west, there 
are animals on which men ride, and which carry very heavy 
loads, they described them as horses, and showed us two feet 
which were actually hoofs of horses. 

We observed everywhere wood of various kinds fit for 
every use; and among others the most beautiful cedars in the 
world, and another kind shedding an abundance of gum, as 
pleasant to burn as the best French pastilles. We also re¬ 
marked everywhere, hemlocks, and many other pretty large 
trees with white bark. The cotton-wood trees are large ; of 
these, the Indians dig out canoes forty or fifty feet long, and 
have sometimes fleets of a hundred and fifty below their vil¬ 
lages. We saw every kind of tree fit for ship-building. There 
is also plenty of hemp for cordage, and tar might be made 
remarkably near the sea. 

You meet prairies everywhere; sometimes of fifteen or 
twenty leagues front, and three or four deep, ready to receive 
the plough. The soil excellent, capable of supporting great 
colonies. Beans grow wild, and the stalk lasts several years, 
always bearing fruit; it is thicker than an arm, and runs up 
like ivy to the top of the highest trees. The peach-trees are 
quite like those of France, and very good; they are so loaded 
with fruit, that the Indians have to prop up those they cul¬ 
tivate in their clearings. There are whole forests of very 
fine mulberries, of which we ate the fruit from the month 
of May; many plum-trees and other fruit-trees, some known 
and others unknown in Europe; vines, pomegranates, and 
horse-chestnuts, are common. They raise three or four crops 
of corn a year. I have already stated that I saw some 


182 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


ripe, while more was sprouting. Winter is known only by 
the rains. 

We had not time to look for mines ; we only found coal in 
several places; the Indians who had lead and copper wished 
to lead us to many places, whence they take it; there are 
quarries of very fine stone, white and black marble, yet the 
Indians do not use it. 

These tribes, though savage, seem generally of very good 
dispositions, affable, obliging, and docile. They have no true 
idea of religion by a regular worship ; but we remarked some 
confused ideas, and a particular veneration they had for the 
sun, which they recognise as him who made and preserves 
all. It is surprising how different their language is from that 
of tribes not ten leagues off; they manage, however, to un¬ 
derstand each; and, besides, there is always some interpreter 
of one nation residing in another, when they are allies, and 
who acts as a kind of consul. They are very different from 
our Canada Indians in their houses, dress, manners, inclina¬ 
tions, and customs, and even in the form of the head, for 
theirs is very flat. They have large public squares, games, 
assemblies ; they seem lively and active ; their chiefs possess 
all the authority; no one would dare pass between the chiefs 
and the cane-torch which burns in his cabin, and is carried 
before him when he goes out; all make a circuit around it 
with some ceremony. The chiefs have their valets and of¬ 
ficers, who follow them and serve them everywhere. They 
distribute their favors and presents at will. In a word, we 
generally found them to be men. We saw none who knew 
firearms, or even iron or steel articles, using stone knives and 
hatchets. This was quite contrary to what had been told us, 
when we were assured that they traded with the Spaniards, 
who were said to be only twenty-five or thirty leagues off; 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


183 


they had axes, guns, and all commodities found in Europe * 
We found, indeed, tribes that had bracelets of real pearls; 
but they pierce them when hot, and thus spoil them. Mon¬ 
sieur de la Salle brought some with him. The Indians told 
us that their warriors brought them from very far, in the di¬ 
rection of the sea, and receive them in exchange from some 
nations apparently on the Florida side. 

There are many other things which our people observed on 
advancing a little into the country to hunt, or which we 
learned from the tribes, through whom we passed; but I 
should be tedious were I to detail them; and, besides, the 
particulars should be better known. 

To conclude, our expedition of discovery was accomplished 
without having lost any of our men, French or Indian, and 
without anybody’s being wounded, for which we were in¬ 
debted to the protection of the Almighty, and the great cap- 
pacity of Monsieur de la Salle. I will say nothing here of 
conversions ; formerly the apostles had but to enter a coun¬ 
try, when on the first publication of the gospel, great conver¬ 
sions were seen. I am but a miserable sinner, infinitely des¬ 
titute of the merits of the apostles; but we must also acknowl¬ 
edge that these miraculous ways of grace are not attached to 
the exercise of our ministry ; God employs an ordinary and 

* Here again it is difficult to decide whether he alludes to Marquette, or some 
other account that may have been given. Father Marquette found some guns 
rather for show than for use in the hands of the first Illinois party, west of the 
Mississippi, which Father Membrd did not visit. He also met a tribe coming 
from the east to war on the Mississippi tribes, also supplied with firearms, 
these Father Membre did not meet. As to the Arkansas, Marquette states that 
he found among them, knives, axes, and beads, bought from other Indian tribes 
on the east, and from the Illinois. Speaking of their trade, he makes no allu¬ 
sion to the Spaniards, although he must have supposed that the lower tribes 
traded with either Florida or Mexico. It is somewhat strange that Father 
Membre, who here seems to make light of Marquette’s fear of being taken, and 
held a prisoner by the Spaniards, should have escaped only by a bloody death 
the detention to which the survivors of Fort St. Louis were subjected. 


184 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


common way, following which I contented myself with an¬ 
nouncing, as well as I could, the principal truths of Christi¬ 
anity to the nations I met. The Ilinois language served me 
about a hundred leagues down the river, and I made the rest 
understand by gestures and some term in their dialect which 
I insensibly picked up; but I can not say that my little ef¬ 
forts produced certain fruits. With regard to these people, 
perhaps, some one by a secret effect of grace, has profited ; 
God only knows. All we have done has been to see the state 
of these tribes, and to open the way to the gospel and to mis¬ 
sionaries ; having baptized only two infants, whom I saw 
struggling with death, and who, in fact, died in our presence. 


ACCOUNT 


OF 

LA SALLE’S ATTEMPT TO REACH THE MISSISSIPPI BY SEA, 

AND OF THE 

ESTABLISHMENT OF A FRENCH COLONY IN ST. LOUIS BAY, 

BY 

FATHER CHRISTIAN LE CLERCQ . 


T HE first design of the sieur de la Salle had been to find 
the long-sought passage to the Pacific ocean, and al¬ 
though the river Colbert (Mississippi) does not lead to it, yet 
this great man had so much talent and courage, that he hoped 
to find it, if it were possible, as he would have done, had God 
spared his life. 

The Ilinois territory, and vast countries around, being the 
centre of his discovery, he spent there the winter, summer, 
and beginning of autumn, 1683, in establishing his posts. He 
at last left Monsieur de Tonty, as commandant and resolved 

to return to France to render an account of his fulfilment of 

/ 

the royal orders. He reached Quebec early in November, 
and Kochelle, France, on the twenty-third of December. 

His design was to go by sea to the mouth of the river Col- 



186 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ. 


bert, and there found powerful colonies under the good pleas¬ 
ure of the king. These proposals* were favorably received 
by Monsieur de Seignelay, minister and secretary of state, 

and superintendent of commerce and navigation in France. 

* 

His majesty accepted them and condescended to favor the 
undertaking not only by new powers and commissions, which 
he conferred upon him, but also by the help of vessels, troops, 
and money, which his royal liberality furnished him. 

The first care of the sieur de la Salle, after being invested 
with these powers, was to provide for the spiritual , to 
advance especially the glory of God in this enterprise. He 
turned to two different bodies of missionaries, in order to ob¬ 
tain men able to labor in the salvation of souls, and lay the 
foundations of Christianity in this savage land. He accord¬ 
ingly applied to Monsieur Trongon, superior-general of the 
clergymen of the seminary of St. Sulpice, who willingly took 
part in the work of God, and appointed three of his ecclesi¬ 
astics full of zeal, virtue, and capacity, to commence these 
new missions. They were Monsieur Cavelier, brother of the 
sieur de la Salle, Monsieur Chefdeville, his relative, and Mon¬ 
sieur de Maiulle,f all three priests. 

As for nearly ten years the Recollects had endeavored to 
second the designs of the sieur de la Salle for the glory of 
God and the sanctification of souls throughout the vast coun¬ 
tries of Louisiana, depending on him from Fort Frontenac, 
and had accompanied him on his expeditions, in which our 
Father Gabriel was killed, he made it an essential point to 
take some one of our fathers to labor in concert to establish 
the kingdom of God in these new countries. For this pur¬ 
pose, he applied to the Rev. Father Hyacinth le Febvre, who 

* See M. de la Salle’s Memoir in Hist. Coll, of Louisiana , vol. i., p. 25. 

f Called by Joutel Dainmaville. See Hist. Coll, of Louisiana, yoL i., p. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 187 

had been twice provincial of our province of St. Anthony, in 
Artois, and was then, for the second time, provincial of that 
of St. Denis in France, who, wishing to second with all his 
power the pious intentions of the sieur de la Salle, granted 
him the religious he asked: namely, Father Zenobius 
Membre superior of the mission, and Fathers Maximus Le 
Clercq and Anastasius Douay, all three of our province of 
St. Anthony, the first having been for four years the insepar¬ 
able companion of the sieur de la Salle during his discovery 
on land; the second had served for five years with great edi¬ 
fication in Canada, especially in the mission of the seven 
islands, and Anticosti. Father Dennis Morguet was added 
as a fourth priest; but that religious finding himself extreme¬ 
ly sick on the third day after embarking, he was obliged to 
give up and return to his province. 

The reverend father provincial had informed the Congrega¬ 
tion de propaganda fide, of this mission, to obtain necessary au¬ 
thority for the exercise of our ministry; he received decrees 
in due form, which we will place at the end of the chapter, 
not to interrupt the reader’s attention here. His holiness 
Innocent XI., added by an express brief, authentic powers, 
and permissions in twenty-six articles, as the holy see is ac¬ 
customed to grant to missionaries whose remoteness makes it 
morally impossible to recur to the authority of the ordinary. 
It was granted against the opposition of the bishop of Quebec, 
Cardinal d’Estrees having shown that the distance from Que¬ 
bec to the mouth of the river was more than eight or nine 
hundred leagues by land.* 

The hopes that were then justly founded on this famous ex¬ 
pedition, induced many young gentlemen to join the sieur de 

* Similar opposition compelled the first Jesuits in Louisiana to leave soon 
after their arrival with Iberville. 


188 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ. 


la Salle as volunteers; he chose twelve "who seemed most 
resolute; among them, the sieur de Morange, and the sieur 
Cavelier, his nephews, the latter only fourteen years of age. 

The little fleet was fitted out at Rochelle, to be composed 
of four vessels — the Joly, a royal ship, a frigate called the 
Belle, a storeship called the Aimable, and a ketch called the 
St. Francis. The royal vessel was commanded by Captain 
de Beaujeu, a Norman gentleman known for valor and expe¬ 
rience, and his meritorious services; his lieutenant was M. le 
chevalier d’Aire, now captain in the navy, and son of the 
dean of the parliament of Metz. The sieur de Hamel, a 
young gentleman of Brouage, full of fire and courage, was 
ensign. Would to God the troops and the rest of the crew 
had been as well chosen! Those who were appointed, while 
M. de la Salle was at Paris, picked up a hundred and fifty 
soldiers, mere wretched beggars soliciting alms, many too de¬ 
formed and unable to fire a musket. The sieur de la Salle 
had also given orders at Rochelle to engage three or four 
mechanics in each trade; the selection was, however, so bad, 
that when they came to the destination, and they were set to 
work, it was seen that they knew nothing at all. Eight or 
ten families of very good people presented themselves, and 
offered to go and begin the colonies. Their offer was ac¬ 
cepted, and great advances made to them as well as to the 
artisans and soldiers. 

All being ready, they sailed on the 24th of July, 1684. A 
storm which came on a few days later, obliged them to put 
in at Chef-de-Bois to repair one of their masts broken in the 
gale. They set sail again on the 1st of August, steering for 
St. Domingo; but a second storm overtook them, and dis¬ 
persed them on the fourteenth of September, the Aimable 
and the Belle alone remaining together, reached Petit Goave 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 189 

in St. Domingo, where they fortunately found the Joly. The 
St. Francis being loaded with goods and effects, and unable 
to follow the others, had put in at Port de Paix, whence she 
sailed after the storm was over to join the fleet at the rendez¬ 
vous ; but as during the night, while quite calm, the captain 
and crew thinking themselves in safety, were perfectly off 
their guard, they were surprised by two Spanish periaguas, 
which took the ketch. 

This was the first mishap which befell the voyage; a dis¬ 
aster which caused universal consternation in the party, and 
much grief to the sieur de la Salle, who was just recovering 
from a dangerous malady, which had brought him to the verge 
of the grave. They stayed, indeed, some time at St. Do¬ 
mingo, where they laid in provisions, a store of Indian corn, 
and of all kinds of domestic animals to stock the new coun¬ 
try. M. de St. Laurent, governor-general of the Isles, Begon, 
intendant, and de Cussy, governor of St. Domingo, favored 
them in every way, and even restored the reciprocal under¬ 
standing so necessary to succeed in such undertakings; but 
the soldiers, and most of the crew, having plunged into every 
kind of debauchery and intemperance, so common in those 
parts, were so ruined and contracted such dangerous disor¬ 
ders that some died in the island, and others never recovered. 

The little fleet thus reduced to three vessels, weighed an¬ 
chor November 25th, 1684, and pursued its way quite suc¬ 
cessfully along the Cayman isles, and passing by the Isle of 
Peace (pines), after anchoring there a day to take in water, 
reached Port San Antonio, on the island of Cuba, where the 
three ships immediately anchored. The beauty and allure¬ 
ment of the spot, and its advantageous position, induced them 
to stay and even land. For some unknown reason the Span¬ 
iards had abandoned their several kinds of provisions, and 


190 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ. 


among the rest some Spanish wine, which they took, and 

after two days’ repose, left to continue the voyage to the gulf 

( 

of Mexico. 

The sieur de la Salle, although very clear-headed, and not 
easily mislead, had, however, too easily believed the advice 
given him by some persons in St. Domingo; he discovered, 
too late, that all the sailing directions given him were absolute¬ 
ly false ; the fear of being injured by northerly winds, said 
to be very frequent and dangerous at the entrance of the gulf, 
made them twice lie to, but the discernment and courage of 
the sieur de la Salle made them try the passage a third time, 
and they entered happily on the 1st of January, 1685, when 
Father Anastasius celebrated a solemn mass as a thanksgiv¬ 
ing, after which, continuing the route, they arrived in fifteen 
days in sight of the coast of Florida, when a violent wind 
forced the Joly to stand off, the store-ship and frigate coasting 
along, the sieur de la Salle being anxious to follow the shore. 

He had been persuaded at St. Domingo, that the gulf- 
stream ran with incredible rapidity toward the Bahama chan¬ 
nel. This false advice set him entirely astray, for thinking 
himself much further north than he was, he not only passed 
Espiritu Santo bay (Appalachee) without recognising it, but 
even followed the coast' far beyond the river Colbert, and 
would even have continued to follow it, had they not per¬ 
ceived by its turning south, and by the latitude, that they 
were more than forty or fifty leagues from the mouth, the 
more so, as the river, before emptying into the gulf, coasts 
along the shore of the gulf to the west, and as longitude is 
unknown to pilots, it proved that he had greatly passed his 
parallel lines. 

The vessels at last, in the middle of February, met at 
Espiritu Santo bay, where there was an almost continual 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 191 

roadstead. They resolved to return whence they came, and 
advanced ten or twelve leagues to a bay which they called 
St. Louis bay (St. Bernard). As provisions began to fail, the 
soldiers had already landed, the sieur de la Salle explored 
and sounded the bay which is a league broad, with a good 
bottom. He thought that it might be the right arm of 
the river Colbert, lie brought the frigate in without acci¬ 
dent on the eighteenth of February; the channel is deep, so 
deep in fact, that even on the sand bar, which in a manner 
bars the entrance, there are twelve or fifteen feet of water at 
low tide. 

The sieur de la Salle having ordered the captain of the 
store-ship not to enter without the pilot of the frigate, in 
whom he put all confidence, to unload his cannon and 
water into the boats to lighten his cargo, and lastly, to follow 
exactly the channel staked out; none of his orders were exe¬ 
cuted, and the faithless man, in spite of the advice given 
him by a sailor who was at the main-top, to keep off, drove 
his vessel on the shoals where he touched and stranded, so 
that it was impossible to get off. 

La Salle was on the seashore when he saw this deplorable 

maneuvre, and was embarking to remedy it, when he saw a 

* 

hundred or a hundred and twenty Indians come; he had to 
put all under arms, the roll of the drum put the savages to 
- flight; he followed them, presented the calumet of peace, and 
conducted them to their camp, regaled them, and even made 
them presents ; and the sieur de la Salle gained them so that 
an alliance was made with them; they brought meat to the 
camp the following days ; he bought some of their canoes, 
and there was every reason to expect much from this neces¬ 
sary union. 

Misfortune would have it that a bale of blanketing from 


192 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MEMBRE. 


the wreck was thrown on shore; some days after a party 
of Indians seized it, the sieur de la Salle ordered his men to 
get it out of their hands peaceably; they did just the con¬ 
trary ; the commander presented his musket as if about to 
fire; this so alarmed them, that they regarded us only as 
enemies. Provoked to fury they assembled on the night 
of the 6th and 7th of March, and finding the sentinel 
asleep, poured in a destructive volley of arrows. Our men 
ran to arms, the noise of musketry put them to flight, after 
they had killed on the spot the sieurs Oris and Desloge, two 
cadets volunteers, and dangerously wounded the sieur de 
Moranger, lieutenant and nephew of the sieur de la Salle, and 
the sieur Gaien, a volunteer. The next day they killed two 
more of our men, whom they found sleeping on the shore. 

Meanwhile, the store-ship remained more than three weeks 
at the place of its wreck, without going to pieces, but full of 
water; they saved all they could in periaguas and boats, 
when a calm allowed them to reach it. One day Father Ze¬ 
nobius having passed in a boat, it was dashed to pieces against 
the vessel by a sudden gust of wind. All quickly got on 
board, but the good father who remained last to save the rest, 
would have been drowned had not a sailor thrown him a 
rope, with which he drew himself up as he was sinking. 

At last Monsieur de Beaujeu sailed in the Joly with all 
his party on the twelfth of March, to return to France,* and 
the sieur de la Salle having thrown up a house with planks 
and pieces of timber to put his men and goods in safety, left 
a hundred men under the command of the sieur de Moranger, 

* Le Clereq it will be observed, is silent as to the misunderstanding between 
La Salle and Beaujeu, which is mentioned by others, and borne out by letters of 
the latter. To him must in no small degree be ascribed the failure of La Salle’s 
attempt. For the detail of their disagreement see Sparks’s excellent life of La 
Salle, and Joutel’s journal in Historical Collection of Louisiana. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 193 

and set out with fifty others; the sieur Cavelier and fathers 
Zenobius and Maximus intending to seek at the extremity of 
the bay, the mouth of the river, and a proper place to fix his 
colony. 

The captain of the frigate had orders to sound the bay in 
boats, and to bring his vessel in as far as he could ; he fol¬ 
lowed twelve leagues along the coast, which runs from south¬ 
east to northwest, and anchored opposite a point to which the 
sieur Hurier gave his name; he w T as appointed commander 
there; this post serving as a station between the naval camp, 
and the one the sieur de la Salle went, on the second of April, 
to form at the extremity of the bay, two leagues up a beauti¬ 
ful river called Cow river, from the great number of those 
wild animals, they found there. Our people were attacked 
there by a party of Indians, but repulsed them. 

On the twenty-first, holy Saturday, the sieur de la Salle 
came to the naval camp, where the next day and the three 
following, those great festivals were celebrated with all possi¬ 
ble solemnity, each one receiving his Creator. The follow¬ 
ing days all the effects, and generally all that could be of 
service to the camp of the sieur de la Salle, were transferred 
from those of the sieurs de Moranger and Ilurier, which 
were destroyed. For a month the sieur de la Salle made 
them work in cultivating the ground ; but neither the grain 
nor the vegetables sprouted, either because they were dam¬ 
aged by the salt water, or because, as was afterward re¬ 
marked, it was not the right season. The fort which was 
built in an advantageous position, was soon in a state of de¬ 
fence, furnished with twelve pieces of cannon, and a maga¬ 
zine under ground, for fear of fire, in which all the effects were 
safely deposited. The maladies which the soldiers had con¬ 
tracted at St. Domingo, were visibly carrying them off, and 

13 


194 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ. 


a hundred died in a few days, notwithstanding all the relief 
afforded by broths, preserves, treacle, and wine, which were 
given them. 

On the 9th of August, 1685, three of our Frenchmen being 
at the chase which is plentiful in these parts, in all kinds of 
game and deer, were surrounded by several troops of armed 
savages, but our men putting themselves on the defensive, 
first killed the chief and scalped him; this spectacle terrified 
and scattered the enemy, who nevertheless, some time after, 
surprised and killed one of our Frenchmen. 

On the thirteenth of October, the sieur de la Salle seeing 
himself constantly insulted by the savages, and wishing, 
moreover, to have some of their canoes by force or consent, 
as he could not do without them, resolved to make open war 
on them in order to bring them to an advantageous peace. 

He set out with sixty men armed with wooden corslets to 
protect them against arrows, and arrived where they had 
gathered; in different engagements by day and night, he 
put some to flight, wounded several, killed some ; others were 
taken, among the rest some children, one of whom a girl 
three or four years old was baptized and died some days 
after, as the first fruits of this mission, and a sure conquest 
sent to heaven. The colonists now built houses, and formed 
fields by clearing the ground, the grain sowed succeeding 
better than the first. They crossed to the other side of the 
bay in canoes, and found on a large river a plentiful chase, 
especially of cattle and turkeys. In the fort they raised all 
kinds of domestic animals, cows, hogs, and poultry, which 
multiplied greatly. Lastly, the execution done among the 
Indians had rendered the little colony somewhat more se¬ 
cure, when a new misfortune succeeded all the preceding. 

The sieur de la Salle had ordered the captain of the frigate 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEV. 195 

to sound the bay carefully as be advanced, and to recall all 
bis men on board at nightfall; but this captain and six 
of bis strongest, stoutest, and ablest men, charmed with the 
agreeableness of the season, and the beauty of the country, 
left their canoe and arms on the sand at low-water, and ad¬ 
vanced a gun shot on the plain to be dry; here they fell 
asleep, and an Indian party espying them, surprised them, 
aided by their sleep and the darkness, massacred them 
cruelly, and destroyed their arms and canoe. This tragical 
adventure produced the greatest consternation in the camp. 

After rendering the last honors to the murdered men, the 
sieur de la Salle leaving provisions for six months, set out 
with twenty men and his brother, the sieur Cavelier, to seek 
the mouth of the river (Mississippi) by land. The bay which 
he discovered to be in latitude 27° 45' !N\, is the outlet of a 
great number of rivers, none of which, however, seemed large 
enough to be an arm of the river Colbert. The sieur de la 
Salle explored them in hope that a part of these rivers was 
formed further up by one of the branches of the said river; 
or, at least, that by traversing the country to some distance, 
he would make out the course of the Missisipi. He was 
longer absent than he had expected, being compelled to 
make rafts to cross the rivers, and to intrench himself every 
night to protect himself against attacks. The continual rains, 
too, formed ravines, and destroyed the roads. At last, on 
the 13th of February, 1686, he thought that he had found 
the river; he fortified himself there, left a part of his men, 
and with nine others continued to explore a most beautiful 
country, traversing a number of villages and nations, who 
treated him very kindly; at last, returning to find his people, 
he arrived at the general camp, on the 31st of May, charmed 
with the beauty and fertility of the fields, the incredible 


196 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLERCQ. 


quantity of game of every kind, and the numerous tribes he 
had met on the way. 

The Almighty was preparing him a still more sensible trial 
than the preceding, in the loss of the frigate, his only re¬ 
maining vessel in which he hoped to coast along, and then 
pass to St. Domingo, to send news to France, and obtain 
new succor. This sad accident happened from want of pre¬ 
caution on the part of the pilot. All the goods were lost irre¬ 
coverably ; the vessel struck on the shore, the sailors were 
drowned ; the sieur de Chefdeville, the captain, and four 
others, with difficulty, escaped in a canoe which they found 
almost miraculously on the shore. They lost thirty-six bar¬ 
rels of flour, a quantity of wine, the trunks, clothes, linen, 
equipage, and most of the tools. We leave the reader to im¬ 
agine the grief and affliction felt by the sieur de la Salle at 
an accident which completely ruined all his measures. His 
great courage even could not have borne him up, had not 
God aided his virtue by the help of extraordinary grace. 

All these measures being thus disconcerted, and his affairs 
Drought to extremes, he resolved to try to reach Canada by 
land; he returned some time after, and undertook a second 
in which he lost his life by the cruelty of his men, some of 
whom remaining faithful, continued their route and reached 
France, among the rest Father Anastasius Douay. Although 
the detail of his remarks was lost in his many wrecks, the 
following is an abridgment of what he could gather from 
them, with which, perhaps, the reader will be better pleased 
than if I gave it in my own style. 


I 


NARRATIVE 


OF 


LA SALLE’S ATTEMPT TO ASCEND THE MISSISSIPPI IN 1687, 


BY 


FATHER AHASTASIUS I) QUAY, RECOLLECT* 


HE sieur de la Salle seeing no other resource for his af¬ 



fairs, but to go by land to the Ilinois, to be able to give 


in France, tidings of his disasters, chose twenty of his best 
men, including Hika, one of our Shawnee Indians, who had 
constantly attended him from Canada to France, and from 
France to Mexico; Monsieur Cavelier, the sieur de Moranget 
and I also joined them for this great journey, for which we 
made no preparation but four pounds of pow T der, and four of 
lead, two axes, two dozen knives, as many awls, some beads, 
and two kettles. After celebrating the divine mysteries in 

* Of Father Anastasius Douay we know little; Hennepin makes him a native 
of Quesnoy, in Hainault. He had never been in America before, but after being 
connected with La Salle’s expedition, from 1684 to 1688, he reached France, as 
we shall see, in safety. He was, says Hennepin, vicar of the Recollects of Cam- 
bray, in 1697. Certain it is that he subsequently revisited America in 1699, with 
Iberville, but we can trace him no further. A man of observation and ability, 
he seems to have been quite sweeping in his charges, as we shall observe in the 
course of his narrative. The only point against him besides this, which was an 
excess of party feeling, was his share in the deception practised on Tonty. 



198 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY. 


the chapel of the fort, and invoking together the help of 
Heaven, we set out on the 22d of April, 1686, in a north¬ 
easterly direction. 

On the third day we perceived in some of the finest plains 
in the world a number of people, some on foot, others on 
horseback; these came galloping toward us, booted and spur¬ 
red, and seated on saddles. They invited us to their town, 
but as they were six leagues to the northwest, out of our 
route, we thanked them, after learning in conversation, that 
they had intercourse with the Spaniards. Continuing our 
march the rest of the day, we cabined at night in a little in¬ 
trenched stockade fort, to be beyond reach of insult; this we 
always after practised with good results. 

Setting out the next morning, we marched for two days 
through continual prairies to the river which we called Po- 
bek, meeting everywhere so prodigious a quantity of Cibola, 
or wild cattle, that the smallest herds seemed to us to con¬ 
tain two or three hundred. We killed nine or ten in a mo¬ 
ment, and dried a part of the meat so as not to have to stop 
for five or six days. A league and a half further we met an¬ 
other and finer river, wider and deeper than the Seine at 
Paris, skirted by some of the finest trees in the world, set as 
regularly as though they had been planted by man. Among 
them were many mulberry and other fruit trees. On one 
side were prairies, on the other woods. We passed it on 
rafts, and called it La Maligne. 

Passing through this beautiful country, its delightful fields, 
and prairies skirted with vines, fruit-trees, and groves, we, 
a few days after, reached a river which we called Iliens, 
after a German from Wittemburg, who got so fast in the mud 
that he could scarcely get out. One of our men, with an axe 
on his back, swam over to the other side, a second followed 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


199 


at once; they then cut down the largest trees, while others on 
our side did the same. These trees were cut so as to fall on 
each side into the river, where meeting, they formed a kind 
of bridge on which we easily passed. This invention we had 
recourse to more than thirty times in our journeys, finding it 
surer than the Cajeu, which is a kind of raft formed of many 
pieces, and branches tied together, on which we passed over, 
guiding it by a pole. 

Here the sieur de la Salle changed his route from northeast 
to east, for reasons which he did not tell us, and which we 
could never discover. 

After several days’ march, in a pretty fine country, crossing 
ravines on rafts, we entered a much more agreeable and per¬ 
fectly delightful territory, where we found a very numerous 
tribe who received us with all possible friendship, even the 
women coming to embrace our men. They made us sit 
down on well-made mats, at the upper end, near the chiefs, 
who presented us the calumet adorned with feathers of every 
hue, which we had to smoke in turn. They served up to us 
among other things a sagamity, made of a kind of root called 
Toque, or Toquo. It is a shrub, like a kind of bramble with¬ 
out thorns, and has a very large root, which they wash and 
dry perfectly, after which it is pounded and reduced to pow¬ 
der in a mortar. The sagamity has a good taste, though 
astringent. These Indians presented us with some cattle- 
skins, very neatly dressed, to make shoes ; we gave them in 
exchange beads, which they esteem highly. During our stay 
the sieur de la Salle so won them by his manners, and insinu¬ 
ated so much of the glory of our king, telling them that he 
was greater and higher than the sun, that they were all rav¬ 
ished with astonishment. 

The sieur Cavelier and I endeavored here, as everywhere 


200 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOTJAY. 


else, to give them some first knowledge of the true God. This 
nation is call Biskatronge, but w r e called them the nation of 
weepers,* and gave their beautiful river the same name, be¬ 
cause at our arrival and entrance, they all began to weep bit¬ 
terly for a good quarter of an hour. ' It is their custom when 
they see any who come from afar, because it reminds them 
of their deceased relatives whom they suppose on a long jour¬ 
ney, from which they await their return. These good people, 
in conclusion, gave us guides, and we passed their river in 
their periaguas. 

We crossed three or four others the following days, without 
any incident of note, except that our Shawnee, firing at a 
deer pretty near a large village, so terrified them all by the 
report that they took to flight. The sieur de la Salle put all 
under arms to enter the village, which consisted of three 
hundred cabins. We entered the largest, that of the chief, 
where we found his wife still, unable to fly from old age. 
The sieur de la Salle made her understand that we came as 
friends; three of her sons, brave warriors, observed at a dis¬ 
tance what passed, and seeing us to be friendly, recalled all 
their people. We treated of peace, and the calumet w T as 
danced till evening, when the sieur de la Salle, not trusting 
them overmuch, went and encamped beyond the canes, so 
that, if the Indians approached by night, the noise of the 
canes would prevent our being surprised. 

This showed his discernment and prudence, for during the 
night a band of warriors, armed with arrows, approached; 
but the sieur de la Salle, without leaving his intrenchment, 
threatened to thunder his guns; and in a word spoke so 
bold and firmly, that he obliged them to draw otf. After 

* Cabeza de Yaca from the same circumstance gives a similar name to a tribe 
in that quarter. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


201 


their retreat the night passed off quietly, and the next day 
after reciprocal marks of friendship, apparent at least on the 
side of the Indians, we pursued our route to five or six 
leagues beyond. Here we were agreeably surprised to find 
a party of Indians come out to meet us, with ears of corn in 
their hands, and a polished, honest air. They embraced us, 
inviting us most pressingly to go and visit their villages; the 
sieur de la Salle seeing their sincerity, agreed. Among other 
things these Indians told us that they knew whites toward the 
west, a cruel, wicked nation, who depeopled the country 
around them. (These were the Spaniards.) We told them 
that we were at war with that people; when the news of this 
spread through the village called that of the Kironas, all vied 
with each other in welcoming us, pressing us to stay, and go 
to war with the Spaniards of Mexico. We put them off with 
fair words, and made a strict alliance with them, promising 
to return with more numerous troops; then after many feasts 
and presents, they carried us over the river in periaguas. 

As we constantly held on our way to the east, through 
beautiful prairies, a misfortune befell us after three days’ 
march. Our Indian hunter Hika suddenly cried out with all 
his might, “I am dead!” We ran up and learned that he 
had been cruelly bitten by a snake; this accident stopped 
us for several days. We gave him some orvietan, and ap¬ 
plied viper’s salt on the wound after scarifying it to let out 
the poison and tainted blood ; he was at last saved. 

Some days after we had many other alarms. Having 
reached a large and rapid river, which we were told ran to 
the sea, and which we called Misfortune* river, we made a 
raft to cross; the sieur de la Salle and Cavelier with a part 

* This river differs from the Maligne , and is supposed to be the Colorado 
of Texas. 


202 


NARK ATI VE OF FATHER DOUAY. 


of onr people got on ; but scarcely bad they got into the cur¬ 
rent, when by its violence it carried them off with incredible 
rapidity, so that they disappeared almost instantly. I re¬ 
mained ashore with a part of our men : our hunter was absent, 
having been lost for some days. It was a moment of extreme 
anguish for us all, who despaired of ever again seeing our 
guardian-angel, the sieur de la Salle. God vouchsafed to in¬ 
spire me constantly with courage, and I cheered up those 
who remained as well as I could. The whole day was spent 
in tears and w r eeping, when at nightfall we saw on the oppo¬ 
site brink La Salle with all his party. We now learned that 
by an interposition of Providence, the raft had been stopped 
by a large tree floating in the middle of the river. This gave 
them a chance to make an effort and get out of the current, 
which would otherwise have carried them out to sea. One 
of his men sprang into the water to catch the branch of a tree, 
and then was unable to get back to the raft. He was a Bre¬ 
ton named But; but he soon after appeared on our side, 
having swam ashore. 

The night was spent in anxiety, thinking how we should 
find means to pass to the other side to join the sieur de la 
Salle. We had not eaten all day, but Providence provided 
for us by letting two eaglets fall from a cedar-tree; we were 
ten at this meal. 

The next day we had to pass; the sieur de la Salle advised 
us to make a raft of canes; the sieur Moranget and I, with 
three others, led the way, not without danger, for we went 
under every moment, and I was obliged to put our breviary 
in our* cowl, because it got wet in the sleeve. The sieur 

* The Franciscans were founded at a time when commerce was taking gigan¬ 
tic steps, and men all became inflamed with desires of rapidly acquiring wealth. 
St. Francis arose to counteract this spirit so fatal to real Christianity in the 
heart. Example is the easiest mode of teaching, and his poor friars rejecting 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 203 

de la Salle sent two men to swim out and help us push the 
canes on, and they brought us safely in. Those who re¬ 
mained on the other side did not at all like risking it, but 
they had to do it at last, on our making show of packing up 
and continuing our march without them; they then crossed 
at less hazard than we. 

The whole troop except the hunter being now assembled, 
we for two days traversed a thick cane-brake, the sieur de 
la Salle cutting his way with two axes, and the others in like 
manner to break the canes. At last, on the third day, our 
hunter Nika came in loaded with three dried deer, and an¬ 
other just killed. The sieur de la Salle ordered a discharge 
of several guns to show our joy. 

Still marching east, we entered countries still finer than 
those we had passed, and found tribes that had nothing bar¬ 
barous but the name; among others we met a very honest 
Indian returning from the chase with his wife and family. 
He presented the sieur de la Salle with one of his horses and 
some meat, invited him and all his party to his cabin ; and to 
induce us, left his wife, family, and game, as a pledge, while 
he hastened to the village to announce our coming. Our 
hunter and a servant of the sieur de la Salle accompanied 
him, so that two days after they returned to us with two 
horses loaded with provisions, and several chiefs followed by 
warriors very neatly attired in dressed skins adorned with 
feathers. They came on bearing the calumet ceremoniously, 
and met us three leagues from the village; the sieur de la 
Salle was received as if in triumph, and lodged in the great 
chief’s cabin. There was a great concourse of people; the 
young men being drawn out and under arms, relieving one 

the word mine , showed in their whole deportment that contempt of wealth and 
property, which seemed a comment on the words, “ Blessed are the poor in 
spirit.” 


204 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY. 


another night and day, and besides loading ns with presents 
and all kinds of provisions. Nevertheless, the sieur de la 
Salle fearing lest some of his party might go after the women, 
encamped three leagues from the village. Here we remained 
three or four days, and bought horses and all that we needed. 

This village, that of the Coenis, is one of the largest and 
most populous that I have seen in America. It is, at least, 
twenty leagues long, not that it is constantly inhabited, but 
in hamlets of ten or twelve cabins, forming cantons each with 

a different name. Their cabins are fine, forty or fifty feet 

/ 

high, of the shape of bee-hives. Trees are planted in the 
ground, and united above by the branches, which are cov¬ 
ered with grass. The beds are ranged around the cabin, 
three or four feet from the ground ; the fire is in the middle, 
each cabin holding two families. 

We found among the Coenis many things which undoubt¬ 
edly came from the Spaniards, such as dollars, and other 
pieces of money, silver spoons, lace of every kind, clothes and 
horses. We saw, among other things, a bull from Rome, ex¬ 
empting the Spaniards in Mexico from fasting during sum¬ 
mer. Horses are common, they gave them to us for an axe; 
one Coenis offered me one for our cowl, to which he took a 
fancy. 

They have intercourse with the Spaniards through the 
Cboumans, their allies, who are always at war with New 
Spain. The sieur de la Salle made them draw on bark a 
map of their country, of that of their neighbors, and of the 
river Colbert, or Mississippi, with which they are acquainted. 
They reckoned themselves six days’ journey from the Span¬ 
iards, of whom they gave us so natural a description, that we 
no longer had any doubts on the point, although the Span¬ 
iards had not yet undertaken to come to their villages, their 


DISCOVERIES IN TIIE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


205 


warriors merely joining tlie Choiimans to go war on New 
Mexico. The sieur de la Salle, who perfectly understood the 
art of gaining the Indians of all nations, filled these with ad¬ 
miration at every moment. Among other things he told 
them, that the chief of the French was the greatest chief in 
the world, as high as the sun, and as far above the Spaniard 
as the sun is above the earth. On his recounting the vic¬ 
tories of our monarch, they burst into exclamations, putting 
their hand on their mouth as a mark of astonishment. I 
found them very docile and tractable, and they seized well 
enough what we told them of the truth of a God. 

There were then some Choiimans embassadors among 
them, who came to visit us; I was agreeably surprised to see 
them make the sign of the cross, kneel, clasp their hands, 
raise them from time to time to heaven. They also kissed 
my habit, and gave me to understand that men dressed like 
us instructed tribes in their vicinity, who were only two days’ . 
march from the Spaniards, where our religious had large 
churches, in which all assembled to pray. They expressed 
very naturally the ceremonies of mass, one of them sketched 
me a painting that he had seen of a great lady, who w r as 
weeping because her son was upon a cross. He told us that 
the Spaniards butchered the Indians cruelly, and finally that 
if we would go with them, or give them guns, they could 
easily conquer them, because they were a cowardly race, who 
had no courage, and made people walk before them with a 
fan to refresh them in hot weather. 

After remaining here four or five days to recruit, we pur¬ 
sued our route through the Nassonis, crossing a large river 
which intersects the great Coenis village. These two nations 
are allies, and have nearly the same character and customs. 

Four or five leagues from there, w T e had the mortification 


/ 


206 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOTTAY. 


to see that four of our men had deserted under cover ot night, 
and retired to the Hassonis; and, to complete our chagrin, 
the sieur de la Salle and his nephew, the sieur de Moranget, 
were attacked with a violent fever, which brought them to 
extremity. Their illness was long, and obliged us to make a 
long stay at this place, for when the fever, after frequent re¬ 
lapses, left them at last, they required a long time to recover 
entirely. 

The length of this sickness disconcerted all our measures, 
and was eventually the cause of the last misfortunes which 
befell us. It kept us back more than two months, during 
which we had to live as we could; our powder began to run 
out; we had not advanced more than a hundred and fifty 
leagues in a straight line, and some of our people had de¬ 
serted. In so distressing a crisis the sieur de la Salle re¬ 
solved to retrace his steps to Fort Louis; all agreed and we 
« 

straightway resumed our route, during which nothing hap¬ 
pened worth note; but that, as we repassed the Maligne, one 
of our men was carried off with his raft by a crocodile of 
prodigious length and bulk. 

After a good month’s march, in which our horses did us 
good service, we reached the camp on the 17th of October, in 
the same year, 1686, where we were welcomed with all im¬ 
aginable cordiality; but, after all, with feelings tinged alike 
with joy and sadness, as each related the tragical adventures 
which had befallen both since we had parted. 

It would be difficult to find in history courage more intrep¬ 
id or more invincible than that of the sieur de la Salle; in 
adversity he was never cast down, and always hoped with 
the help of Heaven to succeed in his enterprises, despite all 
the obstacles that rose against it. 

He remained two months and a half at Saint Louis bay, 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 207 

and we visited together all the rivers which empty into it. 
To my own knowledge, I am sure that there are more than 
fifty, all navigable, coming from the west and northwest; the 
place where the fort stands is somewhat sandy; everywhere 
else the ground is good. On every side we saw prairies on 
which the grass is, at all seasons of the year, higher than 
wheat with us. Every two or three leagues is a river skirted 
with oaks, thorn, mulberry, and other trees. This kind of 
country is uniform till within two days’ march of the Span¬ 
iards. 

The fort is built on a little eminence which runs north and 
south; it has the sea on the southwest, vast prairies to the 
w T est, and on the southwest two small lakes, and woods a 
league in circuit; a river flows at its foot. The neighboring 
nations are the Quoaquis, who raise Indian corn, and have 
horses cheap, the Bahainos, and the Quinets, wandering tribes 
with whom we are at war. During this time, the sieur de la 
Salle forgot nothing to console his little infant colony, in 
which the families began to increase by births. He advanced 
greatly the clearing of land, and the erection of buildings; 
the sieur de Chefdeville, priest, the sieur Cavelier, and we 
three Recollects, laboring in concert for the edification of the 
French, and of some Indian families who withdrew from the 
neighboring nations to join us. During all this time the sieur 
de la Salle did his utmost to render the Indians less hostile; 
peace with them being of the utmost consequence for the es¬ 
tablishment of the colony. 

At last Monsieur de la Salle resolved to resume his Ilinois 
voyage, so necessary for his plans; he made an address full 
of eloquence, with that engaging way so natural to him; the 
whole colony was present, and were almost moved to tears, 
persuaded of the necessity of his voyage, and the uprightness 


208 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOTTAY. 


of liis intentions. Would to God that all had persevered in 
these sentiments! lie completed the fortification of a great 
enclosure, encircling all the habitations and the fort, after 
which he chose twenty men, the sieur Cavelier, his brother, 
the sieurs Moranget and Cavelier, his nephews, with the 
sieur Joutel,* pilot and myself. After public prayers we set 
out on the 7th of January, 1687.f 

* Joutel was not in the previous excursion of the Cenis, of which the mission¬ 
ary’s is the only account. 

f The fate of the party left in the fort is involved in some obscurity; it is cer¬ 
tain that they were killed by the Indians. The period of this disaster seems to 
have been some time after La Salle’s departure. The Spanish account of the 
fate of La Salle’s colony in Texas, from the Ensayo Cronologico of Barcia 
(p. 294), is as follows:— 

In the month of January, 16S9, Don Alonso de Leon set out from the province of 
Quaguila (Coahuila), with some horses, marching north of the sea, crossing great 
mountains, and the river which runs near Valladolid, and those of Sauceda, Nasas, 
Salinas, the river Florido, and others, to Caovil, a Spanish town in New Mexico, 
which is also called Calhuila; he then turned to his right, and crossing the Rio 
Bravo (which is also called Del Norte, or Rio Verde, and rises in the lake of the 
Canibas) below Fort St. John, he entered the province of the Quelanhubeches 
and Bahamos Indians, and in the interior of the country, came in his opinion to 
the bay, called St. Bernard’s; it had many estuaries and several large rivers 
flowed into it. The French called it St. Louis Bay. He arrived at the fort which 
Robert de la Salle had built with palisades, and ship timbers: he reconnoitred 
it, and found nothing there but the dead bodies of some foreigners, inside and 
outside the fort, killed by arrows and blows, and eighteen iron cannon on navy 
gun carriages. 

The destruction he witnessed excited his greatest compassion, and, as the 
novelty of Don Alonso’s squadron had congregated many Indians, he asked them 
the motive of that deed, but the Indians, who had perpetrated it, pretended not 
to understand his signs, and showed by others that, if any one knew the whole 
matter, it would be five companions of the deceased, who were sick, in the 
province of the Tejas, a hundred leagues distant; that they would go and inform 
them; and although Don Alonso ascertained that the Indians of the neighbor¬ 
hood had conspired and put to death all the French, reserving only two children, 
burning the powder, destroying the arms, and carrying off all they could, and 
then celebrating the victory in all their towns with great feastings and dances 
they constantly denied having any hand in the slaughter. 

Such was the end of Fort St. Louis, which cost the unhappy Robert de la Salle 
so much toil and anxiety. Don Alonso could not then ascertain whether there 
had been any motive for this cruelty, beyond the hatred of the Indians, or wheth¬ 
er the French had given any cause; nor did he deem it prudent to examine the 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


209 


The very first day we met an army of Bahainos going to 
war with the Erigoanna; the sieur de la Salle made an al- 

Indians more closely, as he saw by their looks that, were he not accompanied by 
so well-appointed and well-armed a body of cavalry, prepared to meet them, 
they would have closed the tragedy with the Spaniards. 

At the close of May Tonty knew it, being then one day’s march from the 
Palaquesones: he states that the French of Fort St. Louis, being unable to keep 
together, had either mixed with the Indians, or started for French posts, and that, 
without examining further, he returned to Illinois. 

In order to deliver the five Frenchmen who were among the Tejas, Don Alonso 
accepted the proposal made to inform them. He accordingly wrote to them in 
French, by means of an interpreter, telling them, with many kind expressions, 
that, having heard of the shipwreck, and peril of their companions, he had come 
by order of the viceroy of New Spain, to deliver them from the slavery of those 
savages, and save their lives; that he regretted extremely his having known the 
misfortune of their companions so late, as to have been unable to come more 
speedily, and prevent the murders which the Indians had perpetrated on them; 
that if they chose to come to him, he would free them, and treat them as became 
a Christian and a gentleman. 

Four Indians carried this letter, and during the few days that it took them to 
return, Don Alonso ordered the French to be buried; this the Spaniards did, 
weeping over this catastrophe, and misfortune, and praying most earnestly for 
the salvation of their souls. This shows how ill-informed he was, who edited 
Joutel’s account of La Salle’s voyage, when he says, at the end, that when La 
Salle’s death was known by the Spaniards, they sent a party who carried 
off the garrison of Fort St. Louis, and then put them to death, thus defrauding 
Don Alonso and his soldiers of the meed their piety deserved, by so ungrateful 
and notorious a falsehood. 

The Indians arrived, with letter, in the province where the five Frenchmen 
were ; when they had read it, their opinions as to it were divided. Three said 
that they could not believe that the Indians had killed their companions, and 
destroyed the fort; that it must have been the Spaniards, who now called them 
to do the same with them. “For why,” they added, “can we expect a better 
fate, did we come into this country to do them any good ? If they do not treat 
us as usurpers of territories they have occupied this many years, for having 
come now, without any ground, to despoil them and excite the Indians, by peace 
and war, against them, endeavoring to make them out horrible and abominable, 
by pretending cruelties, inventing tyrannies, and describing slaughters that 
never took place, at least they will treat us as robbers and pirates.” 

James Grollet, and John Larcheveque, of Bordeaux, endeavored to moderate 
their comrades’ fears, saying that, “if the Spaniards had killed the French, the 
Indians of the country put to flight will relate the story, and will not confirm 
the bearers of the letter, and its contents; that they did not, and could not have 
anything to do with usurpation of countries, nor piracies, as a body of soldiers 
coming with their officers, would always go where their king sends them, and 
that the greatest evil would be, that they would be sent prisoners to Mexico. 

u 


210 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOTTAY. 


liance with them. He wished also to treat with the Quinets, 
v T ho fled at our approach; but having overtaken them by 
means of our horses, we treated them so kindly that they 
promised an inviolable |)eace. 

The fourth day, three leagues further to the northeast, we 
came to the first Cane river. Our route lay through prairies, 
with scattered groves; the soil is so good that the grass grows 
ten or twelve feet high. There are on this river many popu¬ 
lous villages; we visited only the Quaras and the Anachore- 
mas. 

In the same direction, three leagues further, we came to 
the second Cane river, inhabited by different tribes; here 
we found fields of hemp. 

And how much better,” said they, “live among Christians, even as slaves, than 
among these savages, exposed to the whim of their cruelty, and risking, or aban¬ 
doning their salvation. If we were to invite the Spaniards, and they came under 
assurance of life, would we butcher them, without their giving fresh cause for 
their destruction ? No. Why then should we presume that their feelings will 
be unlike ours?” Finding, however, that the more they argued, the more 
obstinate the others became, Grollet and Larcheveque came with the four Indians 
without any suspicion. 

They all reached Don Alonso, who ordered the Indians to be rewarded for 
their diligence, and the two Frenchmen to be supplied with necessary food and 
clothing. Following his instructions, he questioned them on different points, and 
taking them into his company, returned to Quaguila by May without meeting 
any accident on the way. 

He informed the viceroy of all that he had seen, observed, or discovered, and 
sent him Grollet and Larcheveque, directing those who conducted them to treat 
them well. They arrived and delivered the viceroy the letters of Don Alonso. 
Before interrogating the Frenchmen at all, he summoned Don Andres de Pes, as 
a person so well informed in the matter, and then, in the presence of both the 
Frenchmen, stated La Salle’s voyage in search of the mouth of the river Missis¬ 
sippi, his landing in St. Bernard’s Bay, the building of the fort, the reason of 
their being among the Tejas, and other matters. 

By the letters and statements made by Don Alonso, and the information else¬ 
where acquired, they saw the great injury to be done to New Spain by this 
project of the French, already, though unsuccessfully, attempted. The viceroy 
asked Don Andres de Pes to go to Spain, to represent the danger, and the great 
advantage of fortifying Pensacola. Don Andres, having obtained the necessary 
instructions, set out. with the two Frenchmen, and embarking at Vera Cruz, 
reached Cadiz safely on the 9th of December. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


211 


Five leagues further, we passed the Sandy river, so called 
from the sandy strip along it, though all the rest is good land 
and vast prairies. 

We marched seven or eight leagues to Robec river, passing 
through prairies, and over three or four rivers, a league from 
one another. Robec river has many populous villages, where 
the people have a language so guttural, that it would require 
a long time to form ourselves to it. They are at war with the 
Spaniards, and pressed us earnestly to join their warriors; 
but there was no hope of keeping us. "We stayed, however, 
five or six days with them, endeavoring to gain them by pres¬ 
ents and Christian instruction, a thing they do not get from 
the Spaniards. 

Continuing our route, we crossed great prairies to the Ma- 
ligne. This deep river, where one of our men had been de¬ 
voured by a crocodile, comes from a great distance, and is 
inhabited by forty populous villages, which compose a nation 
called the Quanoatinno; they make war on the Spaniards, 
and lord it over the neighboring tribes. We visited some of 
these villages ;* they are a good people, but always savage, 
the cruelty of the Spaniards rendering them still more fierce. 
As they found us of a more tractable nature, they were 
charmed with our nation; but after these mutual presents, 
we had to part. They gave us horses cheap, and carried us 
over their river in hide canoes. 

In the same direction, after four leagues of similar land, 
extremely fertile, we crossed Hiens river on rafts; then turn¬ 
ing north-northeast, we had to cross a number of little rivers 
and ravines, navigable in winter and spring. The land is di¬ 
versified with prairies, hills, and numerous springs. Here we 

r 

* Joutel says they merely heard of the Canohatino, and ealls them afterward 
enemies of the Cenis. 


212 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY. 


found three large villages, the Taraha, Tyakappan, and 
Palona, who have horses. Some leagues further on, we came 
to the Palaquesson* composed of ten villages, allies * of the 
Spaniards. 

After having passed these nations, the most disheartening 
of all our misfortunes overtook us. It was the murder of 
Monsieur de la Salle, of the sieur de Moranget, and of some 
others. Our prudent commander finding himself in a coun¬ 
try full of game, after all the party had recruited and lived 
for several days on every kind of good meat, sent the sieur 
Moranget, his lackey Saget, and seven or eight of his people, 
to a place where our hunter, the Shawnee Nika, had left a 
quantity of buffalo meat (boeuf) to dry, so as not to be 
obliged to stop so often to hunt. 

The wisdom of Monsieur de la Salle had not been able to 
foresee the plot which some of his people would make to 
slay his nephew, as they suddenly resolved to do, and actual¬ 
ly did on the 17th of March, by a blow of an axe, dealt by 

■0 

one whom charity does not permit me to name (Liotot). They 
also killed the valet of the sieur de la Salle, and the Indian 
Nika, who, at the risk of his life, had supported them for 
more than three years. The sieur de Moranget lingered for 
about two hours, giving every mark of a death precious in 
the sight of God, pardoning his murderers, and embracing 
them; and making acts of sorrow and contrition, as they 
themselves assured us, after they recovered from their unhap¬ 
py blindness. ITe was a perfectly honest man, and a good 
Christian, confessing every week or fortnight on our march. 
I have every reason to hope that God has shown him mercy. 

The wretches resolved not to stop here; and not satisfied 

* According to Joutel, Hist. Coll, of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 147. Palaquechaune 
was an Indian, whose tribe were allies of the Cenis, and who knew the Cliou- 
mans, the friends of the Spaniards. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


213 


with this murder, formed a design of attempting their com¬ 
mander’s life, as they had reason to fear his resentment and 
chastisement. We were full two leagues off; the sieur de la 
Salle, troubled at the delay of the sieur de Moranget and his 
people, from whom he had been separated now for two or 
three days, began to fear that they had been surprised by the 
Indians. Asking me to accompany him, he took two Indians 
and set out. All the way he conversed with me of matters 
of piety, grace, and predestination ; expatiating on all his ob¬ 
ligations to God for having saved him from so many dangers 
during the last twenty years that he had traversed America. 
He seemed to me peculiarly penetrated with a sense of God’s 
benefits to him. Suddenly I saw him plunged into a deep 
melancholy, for which he himself could not account; he was 
so troubled that I did not know him any longer; as this state 
was far from being usual, I roused him from his lethargy. 
Two leagues after we found the bloody cravat of his lackey; 
he perceived two eagles flying over his head, and at the same 
time discovered some of his people on the edge of the river, 
which he approached, asking them what had become of his 
nephew. They answered us in broken words, showing us 
where we should find him. We proceeded some steps along 
the bank to the fatal spot, where two of these murderers were 
hidden in the grass, one on each side with guns cocked ; one 
missed Monsieur de la Salle, the one firing at the same time 
shot him in the head; he died an hour after, on the 19th of 
March, 1687. 

I expected the same fate, but this danger did not oc¬ 
cupy my thoughts, penetrated with grief at so cruel a spec¬ 
tacle, I saw him fall a step from me, with his face all full of 
blood; I watered it with my tears, exhorting him, to the best 
of my power, to die well. He had confessed and fulfilled his 


214 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY. 


devotions just before we started; lie bad still time to recapit¬ 
ulate a part of bis life, and I gave bim absolution. During 
bis last moments be elicited all tbe acts of a good Christian, 
grasping my band at every word I suggested, and especially 
at that of pardoning bis enemies. Meanwhile bis murderers, 
as much alarmed as I, began to strike their breasts, and de¬ 
test their blindness. I could not leave tbe spot when be bad 
expired without having buried bim as well as I could, after 
which I raised a cross over bis grave.* 

Thus died our wise commander, constant in adversity, in¬ 
trepid, generous, engaging, dexterous, skilful, capable of 
everything. He who for twenty years bad softened tbe fierce 
temper of countless savage tribes, was massacred by tbe 
bands of bis own domestics, whom be bad loaded with cares¬ 
ses. He died in tbe prime of life, in tbe midst of bis course 
and labors, without having seen their success. 

Occupied with these thoughts, which be bad himself a 
thousand times suggested to us, w T bile relating tbe events of 
tbe new discoveries, I unceasingly adored the inscrutable de¬ 
signs of God in this conduct of bis providence, uncertain still 
what fate be reserved for us, as our desperadoes plotted noth¬ 
ing less than our destruction. We at last entered tbe place 
where Monsieur Cavelier was; tbe assassins entered tbe cabin 
unceremoniously, and seized all that was there. I bad ar¬ 
rived a moment before them ; I bad no need to speak, for as 
soon as be beheld my countenance all bathed in tears, tbe 
sieur Cavelier exclaimed aloud, “Ah! my poor brother is 
dead!” This holy ecclesiastic, whose virtue has been so 
often tried in tbe apostolic labors of Canada, fell at once on 
bis knees, bis nephew, the sieur Cavelier, myself, and some 

* This and the circumstances of Moranget’s death, are denied by Joutel in 
Hist. Coll, of Louisiana , vol. L 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 215 

others did the same, to prepare to die the same death, hut 
the wretches touched by some sentiments of compassion at 
the sight of the venerable old man, and besides half penitent 
for the murders they had committed, resolved to spare us, on 
condition that we should never return to France ; hut as they 
were still undecided, and many of them wished to return 
home, we heard them often say, that they must get rid of us; 
that otherwise we would accuse them before the tribunals, if 
we once had them in the kingdom. 

They elected as chief the murderer of the sieur de la Salle 
(Duhaut), and, at last, after many deliberations, resolved to 
push on to that famous nation of the Coenis. Accordingly, 
after marching together for several days, crossing rivers and 
rivers, everywhere treated by these wretches as servants, 
having nothing hut what they left, we reached the tribe with¬ 
out accident. 

Meanwhile the justice of God accomplished the punish¬ 
ment of these men, in default of human justice. Jealousy 
and desire of command arose between Iliens and the sieur de 
la Salle’s murderer; each one of the guilty band sided on 
one side or the other. We had passed the Coenis, after some 
stay there, and were already at the Nassonis, where the four 
deserters, whom I mentioned in the first expedition, rejoined 
us. On the eve of Ascension seeing all together, and our 
wretches resolved to kill each other, I made them an exhor¬ 
tation on the festival, at which they seemed affected, and re¬ 
solved to confess ; but this did not last. Those who most re¬ 
gretted the murder of their commander and leader, had sided 
with Hiens who, seizing his opportunity two days’ after, 
sought to punish crime by crime. In our presence he shot 
the murderer of La Salle through the heart with a pistol; he 
died on the spot, unshriven, unable even to utter the names 


216 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOIJAT. 


of Jesus and Mary. Another who w r as with Hiens, shot the 
murderer of the sieur de Moranget (Liotot), in the side with 
a musket-ball. He had time to confess, after which a French¬ 
man fired a blank cartridge at his head ; his hair, and then 

his shirt, and clothes, took fire and wrapped him in flames, 

* 

and in this torment he expired. The third author of the plot 
and murder fled ; Hiens wished to make way with him, and 
thus completely avenge the death of the sieur de la Salle, 
but the sieur Joutel conciliated them, and it stopped there.* 

By this means Hiens remained chief of the wretched 
band; we had to return to the Coenis wdiere they had re¬ 
solved to settle, not daring to return to France for fear of 
punishment. 

A Coenis army was ready to march against the Kanoatino, 
a hostile tribe, cruel to their enemies, whom they boil alive; 
the Coenis took our Frenchmen with them, after w T hich Hiens 
pressed us strongly to remain with them, but we would not 
consent. Six of us, all French, accordingly set out from the 
Coenis, among whom were the sieurs Cavelier, uncle and 
nephew, and the sieur Joutel. They gave us each a horse, 
powder and lead, and some goods to pay our way. We 
stopped at the Hassonis to celebrate the octave of Corpus 
Christi. They spoke to us daily of the cruelty of the Span¬ 
iards to the Americans, and told us that twenty Indian na¬ 
tions were going to war against the Spaniards, inviting us to 
join them, as we would do more with our guns than all their 
braves with their warclubs and arrows ; but we had very dif¬ 
ferent designs. We only took occasion to tell them that we 
came on behalf of God to instruct them in the truth and save 

* This was Larcheveque, Hist. Coll, of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 158. With Grol- 
let who had deserted from La Salle on his first excursion, he surrendered to a 
Spanish party under Don Alonzo de Leon. See extract from the Ensayo Crono- 
logico. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 217 

their souls. In this we spent ten or twelve days, till the 3d 
of June, the feast of St. Anthony of Padua whom the sieur 
de la Salle had taken as patron of his enterprise. 

Having received two Indians to guide us, we continued our 
way north-northeast, through the finest country in the world ; 
we passed four large rivers and many ravines, inhabited by 
many different nations; we reconnoitred the Haquis on the 
east, the Habiri, and Haansi, all numerous tribes at war with 
the Coenis, and at last, on the 23d of June, we approached 
the Cadodacchos.* One of our Indians went on to announce 
our coming; the chiefs and youth whom we met a league 
from the village, received us with the calumet, which they 
gave us to smoke; some led our horses by the bridle, others 
as it were, carried us in triumph, taking us for spirits and 
people of another world. 

All the village being assembled, the women, as is their 
wont, washed our head and feet with warm water, and then 
placed us on a platform covered with a very neat, white mat; 
then followed banquets, calumet-dances, and other public re¬ 
joicings, day and night. The people knew the Euroj>eans 
only by report; like other tribes through which we had 
passed, they have some very confused ideas of religion and 
adore the sun ; their gala dresses bear two painted suns; on 
the rest of the body are representations of buffalo, stags, ser¬ 
pents, and other animals. This afforded us an opportunity to 

* These were, doubtless, the Caddoes, a tribe which is not yet extinct. Ac¬ 
cording to Joutel, Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 168, the tribe consisted of 
four allied villages, Assony, Nathosos, Nachitos, and Cadodaquio. Tonty de¬ 
scribes them as forming three villages, Cadodaquis, Nachitoches, and Nasoui, 
all on the Red river, and speaking the same language. Two of these tribes, the 
Nasoui and Nachitoches bear a strong resemblance to the tribes found by Mus- 
coso, the successor of De Soto, in the same vicinity, and called by Biedma, Nis- 
sione {Hist. Coll, of Louisiana, vol. iii., p. 107), and by the gentleman of Elvas, 
Nissoone and Naquiscoza, while the Daycao, as their river is called, is not incom¬ 
patible with Cado-Daquio.— Hist. Coll, of Louisiana , vol. iii., p. 201. 


218 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAT. 


give them some lessons on the knowledge of the true God, 
and on our principal mysteries. 

At this place it pleased God to traverse us by a tragical 
accident. The sieur de Marne, in spite of all that we could 
say, went to bathe on the evening of the 24th, the younger 
sieur Cavelier accompanied him to the river side, quite near 
the village; de Marne sprang into the water and instantly 
disappeared. It was an abyss where he was in a moment 
swallowed up. A few hours after his body was recovered 
and brought to the chief’s cabin ; all the village mourned his 
death with all ceremony; the chief’s wife herself neatly 
wound him in a beautiful cloth, while the young men dug 
the grave which I blessed the next day, wdien we buried him 
with all possible solemnity. The Indians admired our cere¬ 
monies, from which we took occasion to give them some in¬ 
struction during the week that we remained in this fatal 
place. Our friend was interred on an eminence near the vil¬ 
lage, and his tomb surrounded by a palisade, surmounted 

by a large cross, which we got the Indians to raise, after 

# 

which we started on the 2d of July. 

This tribe is on the banks of a large river, on which lie 
three more famous nations, the Hatchoos, the Natchites, the 
Ouidiches, where we were very hospitably received. From 
the Coenis river, where we began to find beaver and otter, 
they became very plentiful as we advanced. At the Ouidi¬ 
ches, v r e met three warriors of two tribes called the Cahinnio 
and the Mentous, twenty-five leagues further east-nortlieast, 
who had seen Frenchmen. They offered to guide us there, 
and on our way we passed four rivers on rafts. We were 
received with the calumet of peace, and every mark of joy 
and esteem.* Many of these Indians spoke to us of a great 

* Joutel calls this village Caliaynahoua. See Joutel’s journal published in 
French’s Historical Collections of Louisiana, voL i., pp. 85-193. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 219 

captain, who had only one arm (this was Monsieur de Tonty), 
whom they had seen, and who told them that a greater cap¬ 
tain than he would pass through their village; this was Mon¬ 
sieur de la Salle. 

The chief lodged us in his cabin, from which he made his 
family retire. ¥e were here regaled for several days on 
every kind of meat; there was even a public feast, where the 
calumet was danced for twenty-four hours, with songs made 
for the occasion, which the chief intoned with all his might, 
treating us as people of the sun, who came to defend them 
from their enemies by the noise of our thunder. Amidst 
these rejoicings the younger Cavelier fired his pistol three 
times, crying u Yive le roi,” which the Indians repeated 
loudly, adding, u Yive le soleil.” These Indians have pro¬ 
digious quantities of beaver and otter skins, which could be 
easily transported by a river near the village; they wished to 
load our .horses with them, but we refused, to show our disin 
terestedness; we made them presents of axes and knives, and 
set out with two Cahinnio to act as guides, after having re¬ 
ceived embassies from the Analao and Tanico, and other 
tribes to the northwest and southeast. It was delightful to 
traverse for several days the finest country, intersected by 
many rivers, prairies, little woods, and vine-clad hills. Among 
others, we passed four large navigable rivers, and at last, 
after a march of about sixty leagues, we reached the Osotteoez, 
who dwell on a great river which comes from the northwest, 
skirted by the finest woods in the world. Beaver and otter- 
skins, and all kinds of peltries, are so abundant there, that 
being of no value they burn them in heaps. This is the 
famous river of the Achansa, who here form several villages. 
At this point we began to know where we were, and finding 
a large cross, bearing below the royal arms, with a French- 


220 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOTJAY. 


looking house, our people discharged their guns ; two French¬ 
men at once came forth, and the one in command, by name 
Couture, told us that the sieur de Tont.y had stationed them 
there to serve as an intermediate station to the sieur de la 
Salle, to maintain the alliance with those tribes, and to shield 
them against attacks by the Iroquois. We visited three of 
these villages, the Tollmans, the Doginga, and the Kappa; 
everywhere we had feasts, harangues, calumet-dances, with 
every mark of joy; we lodged at the French house, where 
the two gentlemen treated us with all desirable hospitality, 
putting all at our disposal. Whenever any affairs are to be 
decided among these nations, they never give their resolution 
on the spot; they assemble the chiefs and old men, and de¬ 
liberate on the point in question. We had asked a periagua 
and Indians to ascend the river Colbert, and thence to push 
on to the Ilinois by the river Seignelay, offering to leave them 
our horses, powder, and lead; when the council was held, it 
was said that they would grant us the periagua, and four In¬ 
dians to be selected, one from each tribe, in token of a more 
strict alliance. This was faithfully executed, so that we dis¬ 
missed our Cahinnio with presents, which perfectly satisfied 
them. 

At last, after some time stay, we embarked on the 1st of 
August, 1687, on the river Colbert, which we crossed the 
same day in our periagua forty feet long; but as the current 
is strong, we all landed to make the rest of our journey on 
foot, having left our horses and equipage at the Akansa. 
There remained in the canoe only the sieur Cavelier whose 
age, joined to the hardships he had already undergone on the 
way, did not permit him to accomplish on foot the rest of our 
course (at least four hundred leagues), to the Ilinois. One 
Indian was in the canoe to perch it along, one of his com- 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


221 


fades relieving him from time to time. As for the rest of us, 
we used the periagua only when necessary to cross some dan 
gerous passages or rivers. All this was not without much 
suffering; for the excessive heat of the season, the burning 
sand, the broiling sun, heightened by a want of provisions foi 
several days, gave us enough to endure. 

"We had already travelled two hundred and fifty leagues 
across the country from St. Louis bay, viz.: one hundred 
leagues to the Coenis (sixty north-northeast, the last forty east- 
northeast) ; from the Coenis to the Nassonis, twenty-five to 
the east-northeast; from the hfassonis to the Cadodacchos, 
forty to the north-northeast; from the Cadodacchos to the 
Cahinnio and Mentous, twenty-five to the east-northeast; 
from the Cahinnio to the Akansa, sixty to the east-northeast. 

We then continued our route, ascending the river through 
the same places which the sieur de la Salle had previously 
passed when he made his first discovery, of which I have 
heard him frequently speak, except that we went to the Sica- 
cha, where he had not been. The principal village is twenty- 
five leagues east of the Akansa. This nation is very numer¬ 
ous ; they count at least four thousand warriors, have an 
abundance of every kind of peltry. The chiefs came several 
times to offer us the calumet, wishing to form an alliance 
with the French and put themselves under their protection, 
offering even to come and dwell on the river Oiiabache (Ohio) 
to be nearer to us. 

This famous river is full as large as the river Colbert, re¬ 
ceiving a quantity of others by which you can enter it. The 
mouth, where it empties into the river Colbert, is two hun¬ 
dred leagues from the Akansa, according to the estimate of 
the sieur de la Salle, as he often told me; or two hundred and 
fifty, according to Monsieur de Tonty, and those who accom- 


m 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOTTAY. 


panied him in liis second voyage to the sea, not that it is that 
distance in a straight line across the prairies, but following 
the river which makes great turns, and winds a great deal, 
for by land it would not be more than five days’ good march. 

We crossed the Oiiabache then on the 26th of August, and 
found it full sixty leagues to the mouth of the river Ilinois, 
still ascending the Colbert. About six leagues above this 
mouth, there is on the northwest the famous river of the Mas- 
sourites or Osages, at least as large as the river into which it 
empties; it is formed by a number of other known rivers, 
everywhere navigable, and inhabited by many populous 
tribes; as the Panimaha who had but one chief and twenty- 
two villages, the least of which has two hundred cabins; the 
Paneassa, the Pana, the Paneloga, and the Matotantes, each 
of which, separately, is not inferior to the Panimaha. They 
include also the Osages who have seventeen villages on a 
river of their name, which empties into that of the Massou- 
rites, to which the maps have also extended the name of 
Osages. The Akansas were formerly stationed on the upper 
part of one of these rivers, but the Iroquois drove them out 
by cruel wars some years ago, so that they, with some Osage 
villages, were obliged to drop down and settle on the river 
which now bears their name, and of which I have spoken. 

About midway between the river Oiiabache and that of the 
Massourites is Cape St. Anthony. It was to this place only 
and not further that the sieur Joliet descended in 1673 ; they 
were there taken, with their whole party, by the Mansopela. 
These Indians having told them that they would be killed if 
they went further; they turned back, not having descended 
lower than thirty or forty leagues below the mouth of the 
Ilinois’ river. 

I had brought with me the printed book of this pretended 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 223 

discovery, and I remarked all along my route that there was 

not a word of truth in it. It is said that he went as far as the 

• 

Akansa, and that he was obliged to return for fear of being 
taken by the Spaniards; and yet the Akansa assured us that 
they had never seen any Europeans before Monsieur de la 
Salle. It is said that they saw painted monsters that the 
boldest would have difficulty to look at, and that there was 
something supernatural about them. This frightful monster 
is a horse painted on a rock with matachia,* and some other 
wild beasts made by the Indians. It is said that they can 
not be reached, and yet I touched them without difficulty. 
The truth is that the Miamis, pursued by the Matsigamea, 
having been-drowned in the river, the Indians ever since 
that time present tobacco to these grotesque figures whenever 
they pass, in order to appease the manitou. 

I would not be inclined to think that the sieur Joliet 
avowed the printed account of that discovery which is not, in 
fact, under his name, and was not published till after the first 
discovery made by the sieur de la Salle. It would be easy 
to show that it was printed only on false memoirs, which the 
author, who had never been on the spot, might have followed 
in good faith.f 

* An old term for paint used by the Indians. 

f In this short passage a heavy charge is brought against the narrative of 
Father Marquette, although it is amusing to see how they all, in denying it, 
seem to have dreaded to mention his name, as though his injured spirit would 
have been evoked by the word. 

As Father Anastasius says expressly, that there is not a word of truth in it, 
we may examine the grounds which he adduces. 

1st. It was not published till after the discovery made by La Salle. Tills is 
incorrect. Thevenot published Marquette’s journal from a mutilated copy, in 
1681, and La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi only in April, 1682, 
while his discovery was not known in France before January, 1683. 

2d. The Arkansas said that they had never seen any European before La 
Salle. Making every allowance for the difficulty of conversing with a tribe 
whose language was utterly unknown to him, and admitting the fact, it remains 


I 


224 NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOIT AY. 

At last, on the 5th of September, we arrived at the mouth 

of the Ilinois’ river, whence they reckon at least a hundred 

• 

leagues to Fort Crevecceur, the whole route presenting a very 
easy navigation. A Shawnee named Turpin, having per- 

to show that the Arkansas whom he met, were the same as those visited by 
Marquette. This does not appear to be certain, as they were on different sides 
of the Mississippi. 

3d. The painted rock, of which he exaggerates and refutes Marquette’s ac¬ 
count. Now, though Father Anastasius had the book of the pretended discov¬ 
ery in his hand, he did not read it carefully. Marquette describes a rock above 
the mouth of the Missouri, Anastasius saw another below the mouth, and half 
way between it and the Ohio, and, as it did not answer Marquette’s account, 
there is not a word of truth in his book! Joutel, whose work appeared only in 
1713, avoid this difficulty, whether conscious of Douay’s error, we do not know. 
From the words of Father Anastasius, I am inclined to think, that they never 
saw Marquette’s rock; but deceived by Thevenot’s map which gives a figure 
and the word Manitou at the place below the Missouri, which Marquette men¬ 
tions as the demon of the Illinois, mistook it for the painted rock. Here as 
Father Anastasius tells, some Indians actually perished, and their countrymen 
supposing them engulfed by some demon, propagated the belief in the exist¬ 
ence of one there. This worshipping of rapids was common, and several cases 
are mentioned in the narratives of the time. As to the exaggerations made of 
Marquette’s account, a moment’s examination will show that he represented 
the figures he saw as terrible to superstitious Indians, and so high up on the rock 
that it was not easy to get up there to paint them. His estimate of the skill dis¬ 
played is, indeed, too high; but there is nothing, beyond this, strange in his ac¬ 
count. 

4th. Last of all, comes his positive assertion that Marquette and Joliet went 
only as far as Cape St Anthony,thirty or forty leagues below the mouth of the 
Illinois. For this he gives no authority; but it may be inferred that he found 
the Mansopelas there, and from his little knowledge of the Indians, concluded 
that being there, in 1687, they must have been there in 1673, and consequently, 
that Marquette went no further. 

Enough, however, is here admitted to convict the author of the Etablissement 
de la Foi of injustice to Marquette, whom he never names, but who, even by 
their own statements, descended the Mississippi to the Mansopelas, many years 
before La Salle’s expedition. Yet in the previous part of the work no mention 
at all is made of this voyage, and no opportunity passed to treat it as pretended 
in the accounts of their own. 

Joutel, whose narrative was published subsequently to this, mentions (See 
Hist. Coll, of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 182) Father Marquette, and though he saw 
nothing extraordinary in the painted figures, does not make any of the charges 
here brought by his companion on the voyage whom he contradicts directly on 
two other points. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 225 

ceived ns from his village, ran on to the fort to carry the 
news to the sieur de I3elle Fontaine, the commander, who 
would not credit it; we followed close on the Indian, and 
entered the fort on the 14th of September. We were con¬ 
ducted to the chapel where the Te Deum was chanted in 
thanksgiving, amid the noise and volleys of the French and 
Indians who were immediately put under arms. The sieur 
de Tonty, the governor of the fort, had gone to the Iroquois 
to conciliate the minds of those Indians, we, nevertheless, re¬ 
ceived a very cordial welcome; the commandant neglecting 
nothing to show his joy at our arrival, to console us in our 
misfortunes, and restore us after our hardships. 

Although the season was advanced, we had, nevertheless, 
set out in hopes of reaching Quebec soon enough to sail to 
France; but head-winds having detained us a fortnight at 
the entrance of Lake Dauphin, we had to give it over and win¬ 
ter at the fort, which we made a mission till the spring of 1688. 

The sieur de Tonty arrived there at the beginning of win¬ 
ter with several Frenchmen ; this made our stay much more 
agreeable, as this brave gentleman was always inseparably 
attached to the interests of the sieur de la Salle, whose la¬ 
mentable fate we concealed from him, it being our duty to 
give the first news to the court. 

He told us that, at the same time that we were seeking the 
river Missisipi by sea, he had made a second voyage, de¬ 
scending the river with some French and Indians to the 
mouth, hoping to find us there; that he remained there a 
week, visited all the remarkable points, and remarked that 
there w T as a very fine port with a beautiful entrance, and wide 
channel; and, also, places fit for building forts, and not at 
all inundated as he had supposed, when he descended the 

first time with the sieur de la Salle; adding, that the lower 

15 


226 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER DOUAY. 


river is habitable and even inhabited by Indian villages ; that 
ships can ascend the river a hundred leagues above the gulf; 
that, besides the tribes which he had discovered when de¬ 
scending the first time, he had seen several others on the 
second, as the Picheno, the Ozanbogus, the Tangibao, the 
Otonnica, the Mausopelea, the Mouisa, and many others 
which I do not remember. 

Oar conversations together confirmed me in the opinion of 
the sieur de la Salle, that St. Louis bay could not be more 
than forty or fifty leagues from the mouth of one of the arms 
of the river Colbert in a straight line, for though we struck 
that river only at the Akansa, it was because we took the Ili- 
nois route across the country, God having led us through 
these parts to enable us to discover all those tribes which 
dwell there. 

I had remarked one hundred and ten populous nations on 
my route, not including a great many others of which I heard 
in those through which we passed, who knew them either in 
war, or in trade. The greatest part of these tribes are un¬ 
known to Europeans. 

These are the finest and most fertile countries in the world; 
the soil, which there produces two crops of every kind of 
grain a year, being ready to receive the plough. From time 
to time there are vast prairies where the grass is ten or twelve 
feet high at all seasons; at every little distance there are 
rivers entering larger ones, everywhere navigable, and free 
from rapids. On these rivers are forests full of every kind of 
trees, so distributed that you can everywhere ride through on 
horseback. 

The chase is so abundant and easy, especially for wild- 
cattle, that herds of thousands are discovered; there are deer 
and other animals of the stag kind in numbers, as well as 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


227 


turkeys, bustards, partridges, parrots, rabbits, and bares. 
Poultry are common there, and produce at all seasons, and 
swine several times a year, as we observed at the settlement 
tthere we left more than two hundred. 

The rivers are unusually abundant in all kinds of fish, so 
much so that we took them at the foot of the fort with our 
hands, without basket or net. Our people one day took away 
from the Indians a fish-head which was alone a load for a 
man. Ho settler arriving in the country will not find at first 
enough to support plenteously a large family, or will not, in 
two years time be more at his ease than in any place in 
Europe. I have already remarked that horses for every use 
are there very common, the Indians thinking themselves well 
paid when they get an axe for a horse. 

The commerce might be very great there in peltries, tobac¬ 
co, and cotton. Hemp grows very fine; and as the fields 
are full of mulberry-trees which also line the rivers, silk 
might be raised in abundance. Sugar-canes would succeed 
there well, and could be easily got by trade with the West 
Indies, as the Europeans nations have done in Terra-firma, 
where they are neighbors to Louisiana.* Besides, the great 


* These observations from which Coxe (Hist. Coll, of Louisiana , vol. iii., pp. 
262-’65), doubtless, took a hint, entitle Father Douay to the credit of pointing 
out sources of wealth to Louisiana. Cotton and sugar are already staple prod¬ 
ucts, and silk may soon be. The valley of the Mississippi owes the introduc¬ 
tion of the sugar-cane to the Catholic missionaries, for the Jesuits brought in 
some plants from which the colony was supplied, after they had shown in their 
gardens at New Orleans how successfully it could be raised. The same mis¬ 
sionaries were also the first to raise wheat in Illinois, and engage others to do 
so; as one of their lay-brothers was the first to work the copper-mine of Lake 
Superior, to make articles for the church of Sault St. Mary s. In the east they 
deserve no less a place even in commercial history; they not only called the 
attention of New York to her salt-springs, and brought about a commercial in¬ 
tercourse between the French of Canada, and the English and Dutch in their 
colonies, bub by showing the identity of our ginseng with that of Tartary, en¬ 
abled France for some time to carry on a very lucrative trade with China. 


228 


NAEEATIVE OF FATHEE DOUAY. 


quantity of wool which the cattle of the country are loaded, 
the vast prairies everywhere afford means of raising flocks of 
sheep, which produce twice a year. 

The various accidents that befell us, prevented our search¬ 
ing for the treasures of this country: we found lead quite 
pure, and copper ready to work. The Indians told us that 
there were rivers where silver mines are found: others wished 
to conduct us to a country known to the Spaniards, abound¬ 
ing in gold and silver mines. There are also some villages 
where the inhabitants have pearls, w T hich they go to seek on 
the seacoast and find, they say, in oysters. 

We found few nations within a hundred and fifty or two 
hundred leagues of the sea, who are not prejudiced against 
the Spaniards on account of their great cruelty. These tribes 
are all populous ; and there is one which, in war, would fur¬ 
nish as many as five thousand men. 

The shortness of our stay among these tribes gave us no 
time to lay solid foundations of Christianity; but we re¬ 
marked good dispositions for the faith; they are docile, char¬ 
itable, susceptible of good impressions; there is even some 
government and subordination, savage though it always be. 
By the help of God, religion might make progress there. 
The sun is their divinity, and they offer it in sacrifice the best 
of their chase in the chief’s cabin. They pray for half an 
hour, especially at sunrise; they send him the first whiff of 
their pipes, and then send one to each of the four cardinal 
points. 

I left St. Louis bay on the second voyage to remain among 
the Coenis and begin a mission there. Here Bather Zenobius 
was to join me, to visit the neighboring tribes while awaiting 
from France a greater number of gospel laborers, but the 
melancholy death of the sieur de la Salle having compelled 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


229 


me to proceed, Father Zenobius no doubt went there to meet 
me, and is, perhaps, there yet with Father Maximus (le 
Clercq), having left M. de Chefdeville at the mission in the 
fort, to which he was destined at our departure. There were 
there nine or ten French families, and, besides, several of our 
people had gone to get and had actually married Indian 
women to multiply the colony. What has befallen them 
since, I do not know. 

This, adds le Clercq, is a faithful extract of what Father 
Anastasius could remember of his toilsome voyage. He left 
the Ilinois in the spring of 1688, with M. Cavelier, his 
nephew, the sieur Joustel, and an Indian now domiciled near 
Versailles. They arrived at Quebec on the 27th of July, and 
sailed for France on the 20th of August, where, God enabling 
them to be still together, after having passed through so 
many perils, they presented on account of all to the late mar- 
cpiis of Seignelay. 






































































































RECIT 


DES VOYAGES ET DES DECOUVERTES 

DU 

P. JA CQ UES MAR Q TJETTE, 

DE LA COMPAGNIE DE JESUS EN L’ANNEE 1673, ET AUX SUIVANTES. 


CHAPITKE I ER - 

Du Premier Voyage qxia fait le P. Marquette vers le Nouveau Mexique et com¬ 
ment s'en estforme le dessein. 

I L y avoir longtemps que le Pere premeditoit cette entreprise, 
porte d’un tres ardent desir d’estendre le Royaume de J. Ch. et 
de le faire connoistre et adorer par tous les peuples de ce pays. II se 
voioit comme a la porte de ces nouvelles nations, lorsque des l’annee 
1670, il travailloit en la mission de lapointe du St. Esprit qui est a 
l’extremite du lac Superieur aux Outaoiiacs, il voioit mesme quel- 
quefois plusieurs de ces nouveaux peuples, desquels il prenoit toutes 
les connoissances quil pouvoit, c’est ce qui luy a fait faire plusieurs 
efforts pour commencer cette entreprise, mais tousiour inutilement, 
et mesme il avoit perdu l’esperance d’en venir about lorsque Dieu 
luy en fit naistre cette occasion. 

En l’annee 1673, M. Le Comte de Frontenac nostre gouverneur, 
et M. Talon alors nostre Intendant., connoissant Pimportance de cette 
decouverte, soit pour chercher un passage d’icy jusqu’a la mer de la 
Chine, par la riviere qui se decharge a la mer Vermeille au Califor- 
nie, soit qu’on voulu s’asseurer de ce qu’on a dit du depuis, touchant 
les 2 Royaumes de Theguai'o et de Quivira, limitrophes du Canada, 
ou l’on tient que les mines d’or sont abondantes, ces Messieurs, dis- 



232 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


ie, nommerent en mesme temps pour cette entreprise le sieur Jolyet 
quils jugerent tres propres pour un si grand dessein, estant bien aise 
que le P. Marquette fut de le partie. 

11 ne se tromperent pas dans le choix quils firent du sieur Jolyet, 
car c’estoit un jeune honune natif de ce pays, qui a pour un tel des¬ 
sein tous les advantages qu’on peut souhaiter: II a l’experience et 
la Connoissance des Langues du Pays des Outaoiiacs, ou il a passe 
plusieurs annees, il a la conduitte et la sagesse qui sont les princi¬ 
pals parties pour faire reussir un voyage egalement. dangereux et 
difficile. Enfin il a le courage pour ne rien apprehender, ou tout 
est a craindre, aussi a-t-il remply l’attente qu’on avoit de luy, et si 
apres avoir passe mille sortes de dangers, il ne fut venu malheur- 
eusement faire nauffrage auport, son canot ayant tourne au dessoubs 
du Sault de St. Loiiys proche de Montreal, ou il a perdu et ses 
homines et ses papiers, et d’ou il n’a eschape que par une espece de 
miracle, il ne lassoit rien a souhaiter au succez de son voyage. 


SECTION I. 

Depart du P. Jacques Marquette pour la decouvcrte de la grande Riviere appellee 
par les sauvages Missisipi qai conduit au Nouveau Mexique. 

Le jour de l’lmmaculee Conception de la Ste. Yierge, que javois 
tousjour invoque depuisque je suis en ce pays des Outaoiiacs, pour 
obtenir de Dieu la grace de pouvoir visiter les nations qui sont sur 
la riviere de Missis-pi, fut justement celuy auquel arriva M. Jollyet 
avec les ordres de M. le comte de Frontenac nostre gouverneur et 
de M. Talon nostre Intendant, pour faire avec moy cette decouverte. 
Je fus d’autant plus ravy de cette bonne nouvelle, que je voiois que 
mes desseins alloient etre accomplis et que je me trouvois dans une 
heureuse necessite d’exposer ma vie pour le salut de tous ces peuples 
et particulierement pour les Ilinois qui m’avoient prie avec beaucoup 
d’instance lorsque j’estois a la pointe du St. Esprit de leur porter 
chez eux la parole de Dieu. 

Nous ne fusmes pas long temps a preparer tout nostre equippage 
quoyque nous nous engageassions en un voyage dont nous ne pouvions 
pas prevoir la duree; du Bled d’Inde avec quelque viande boucanee 
furent toutes nos provisions, avec lesquelles nous nous embarquam- 



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


233 


mes sur 2 canots d’ecorce, M.Jollyet et moy avec 5 homines, bien 
resolus a tout faire et a tout souffrir pour une si glorieuse enterprise.' 

Ce fut done le 17e jour de May, 1673, que nous partimes de la 
mission de St. Ignace a Michilimackinac, ou j’estois pour tors ; la 
joye que nous avions d’etre choisis pour cette expedition animoit nos 
courages et nous rendoit agreables les peines que nous avions a 
ramer depuis le matin jusqu’au soir; et pareeque nous allions cher- 
cher des pays inconnus, nous apportammes toutes les precautions 
que nous pumes, affinque si nostre entreprise estoit hazardeuse elle 
ne fut pas temeraire ; pour ce sujet nous primes toutes les connois- 
sances que nous pumes des sauvages qui avoient frequente ces en- 
droicts la et mesme nous tracames sur leur raport une carte de tout 
ce nouveau pays, nous y fimes marquer les rivieres sur lesquelles 
nous devions naviger, les noms des peuples et des lieux par lesquels 
nous devions passer, le cours de la grande riviere, et quels rund 
devent nous devions tenir quand nous y serions. 

Surtout je mis nostre voyage soubs la protection de la Ste. Vierge 
Immaculee, luy promettant que si elle nous faisoit la grace de de- 
couvrir la grande riviere, je luy donnerois le nom de la Conception 
et que je ferois aussi porter ce nom a la premiere mission que 
j’etablyrois chez ces nouveaux peuples, ce que j’ay fait de vray chez 
les Ilinois. 


SECTION II. 

Le Pere visite en passant les Peuples de la folle avoine; Ce que e'est que cette 
folle avoine. 11 entre dans la baye des Puants, quelques particularitez de cette 
baye, il arrive a la nation du feu. 

Avec toutes ces precautions nous faisons joiier joyeusement les 
avirons, sur une partie du Lac Huron, et celuy des Ilinois, et dans la 
have des Puans. 

Le premiere nation que nous rencontrames, fut celle de la folle 
avoine. I’entray dans leur riviere pour aller visiter ces peuples aus 
quels nous avons presche l’Evangile depuis plusieurs annees, aussi 
se trouve-t-il parmy eux plusieurs bons Chrestiens. 

La folle avoine dont ils portent le nom, pareequelle se trouve sur 
leurs terres est une sorte d’herbe qui croit naturellement dans les 



234 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


petites rivieres dont le fond est de vase, est dans les lieux mares- 
ageux; elle est bien semblable a la folle avoine qui croit parmy nos 
bleds. Les epics sont sur des tuyeaux nodes d’espace en espace, ils 
sortent de l’eau vers le mois de juin et vont tousjour montant jusqu’- 
acequils surnagent de deux pieds environ ; Le grain n’est pas plus 
gros que celuy de nos avoines, mais il est une fois plus long, aussi la 
farine en est elle bien plus abondante. Yoicy comme les sauvages 
la cueillent et la preparent pour la manger. Dans le mois de Sep- 
tembre qui est le terns propre pour cette recolte, ils vont en canot au 
travers de ces champs de folle avoine, ils en secoiient les espies de 
part et d’autre dans le canot, a mesure qu’ils avancent; le grain 
tombe aisement sil est meur, et en peu de temps ils en font leur pro¬ 
vision. Mais pour le nettoyer de la paille et le depouiller d’une 
pellicule dans laquelle il est enferme, ils le mettent secher a la 
fumee, sur un gril de bois soubs lequel ils entretiennent. un petit feu, 
pendant quelques jours, et lorsque l’avoine est bien seche, ils la 
mettent dans une Peau en forme de pouche, laquelle ils enfoncent 
dans un trou fait a ce dessein en terre, puis ils la pillent avec les 
pieds, tant et si fortement que le grain s’estant separe de la paille, 
ils le vannent tres aisement, apres quoy ils le pillent pour le reduire 
en farine; or mesme sans etre pille ils le font cuire dans l’eau, 
qu’ils assaisonnent avec de la graisse et de cette fagon on trouve la 
folle avoine presque aussi delicate, qu’est le ris, quand on n’y met 
pas de meilleur assaisonnement. 

Je racontay a ces peuples de la folle avoine, le dessein que j’avois 
d’aller decouvrir ces nations esloignees pour les pouvoir instruire 
des mysteres de nostre Ste. Religion: ils en furent extremement 
surpris, et firent tous leur possible pour m’en dissiiader; ils me 
representerent que je rencontrerois des Nations qui ne pardonnent 
jamais aux estrangers ausquels ils cassent la teste sans aucun sujet; 
que la guerre qui estoit allumee entre divers peuples qui estoient sur 
nostre Route nous exposoit a un autre danger manifeste d’estre tuez 
par les bandes de guerriers qui sont tousjours en campagne ; que la 
grande riviere est tres dangereuse, quand on n’en scait pas les 
Endroicts difficiles, qu’elle estoit pleine de monstres effroyables, qui 
devoroient les hommes et les canots tout ensemble ; qu’il y a mesme 
un demon qu’on entend de fort loing qui en ferine le passage et qui 
abysme ceux qui osent en approcher, enfin que les chaleurs sont si 
excessives en ces pays la qu’elles nous causeroient la mort infaillible- 
ment. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


235 


Je les remerciay de ces bons advis qu’ils me donnoit, mais je leur 
dis que je ne pouvois pas les suivre, puisqu’il s’agissoit du salut des 
ames pour lesquelles je serois ravy de donner ma vie, que je me 
moquois de ce demon pretendu, que nous nous deflenderions bien de 
ces monstres marins, et qu’au reste nous nous tienderions sur nos 
gardes pour eviter les autres dangers dont ils nous menagoient. 
Apres les avoir fait prier Dieu et leur avoir donne quelque Instruc¬ 
tion, je me separay d’eux, et nous estant embarquez sur nos canots 
nous arrivames peu de temps apres dans le fond de la Baye des . 
Puantz, ou nos Peres travaillent utilement a la conversion de ces 
peuples, en ayant baptise plus de deux mille depuis qu’ils y sont. 

Cette baye porte un nom qui n’a pas une si mauvaise signification 
en la langue des sauvages, car ils l’appellent plustost la baye sallee 
que la Baye des Puans, quoyque parmy eux ce soit presque le mes- 
me, et c’est aussi le nom qu’ils donnent a la mer; cequi nous a fait 
faire de tres exactes recherches pour decouvrir s’il n’y avoit pas en 
ces quartiers quelques fontaines d’eau sallee, comme il y en a parmy 
les hiroquois ; mais nous n’en avons pas trouve nous jugeons done 
qu’on luy a donne ce nom a cause de quantite de vase et de Boiie, 
qui s’y rencontre, d’ou s’eslevent continuellement de meschantes 
vapeurs qui y causent les plus grands et les plus continuels Tonner- 
res, que j’aye iamais entendu. 

La Baye a environ trente lieiies de profondeur et huict de large 
en son commencement; elle va tousjour se retrecissant jusques dans 
le fond, ou il est aise de remarquer la maree qui a son fiux et reflux 
regie presque comme celuy de la Mer. Ce n’est pas icy le lieu 
d’examiner si ce sont des vrayes marees ; si elles sont causees par 
les vents ou par quelqu’autre principe ; s’il y a des vents qui sont les 
avant-coureurs de la Lune et attachez a sa. suitte, lesquels par conse¬ 
quent agitent le lac et luy donnent comme son flux et reflux toutes 
les fois que la Lune monte sur l’horison. Ce que je peux dire de 
certain est que quand l’eau est bien calme, on la voit aisement monter 
et descendre suivant le cours de la lune, quoyque je ne nie pas que 
ce mouvement ne puisse estre cause par les ventz qui sont bien 
eloignez et qui pesant sur le milieu du lac font que les bords crois- 
sent et decroissent de la faqon qui paroit a nos yeux. 

Nous quittames cette baye pour entrer dans la riviere qui s’y 
decharge; elle est tres belle en son embouchure et coule douce- 
ment; elle est pleine d’outardes, de Canards, de cercelles et d’autres 
oyseaux qui y sont attirez par la folle avoine, dont ils sont fort frians, 


236 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


mais quand on a un pen avance dans cette riviere, on la trouve tres 
difficile, tant a cause des courants que des Roches affilees, qui coup- 
pent les canots et les pieds de ceux qui sont obliges de les traisner, 
surtout quand les eaux sont basses. Nous franchimes pourtant 
heureusement ces rapideset en approchant de Machkoutens, le nation 
du feu, jeula curiosite de boire des eaux mineralles de la riviere qui 
n’est pas loing de cette bourgade, je pris aussi le temps de recon- 
noistre un simple qu’un sauvage qui en scait le secret a enseigne au 
P. Alloiies avec beaucoup de ceremonies. Sa racine sert contre la 
morsure des serpents, Dieu ayant voulu donner ce remede contre un 
venin qui est tres frequent en ces pays. Elle est fort chaude, et 
elle a un gout de poudre quand on l’escrase sous la dent; il faut la 
mascher et la mettre sur la piquurre du serpent, qui en a une si 
grande horreur, qu’il s’enfuit mesme de celuy,qui s’en est frotte, elle 
produit plusieurs tiges, hautes dun pied, dont la feuille est un peu 
longue et la fleur blanche et beaucoup semblable a la giroflee. J’en 
mis dans mon canot pour l’examiner a loisir pendant que nous avan- 
cions tousjour vers Maskoutens, ou nous arrivames le 7 de Juin. 


SECTION III. 

Description de la Bourgade de MasJcoutens, Cequi s'y passa entre le Pere et les 
sauvages ; Les Francois commencent d'entrer dans un Pays nouveau et inconnu 
et arrivent a Missispi. 

Nous voicy rendus a Maskoutens. Ce mot en Algonquin peut 
signifier, nation du feu; aussi est ce le nom qu’on luy a donne. 
C’est ici le terme des decouvertes qu’ont fait les Francis, car ils 
n’ont point encore passe plus avant. 

Ce Bourg est compose de trois sortes de Nations qui s’y sont 
ramassees, des Miamis, des Maskoutens, et des Kikabous. Les pre¬ 
miers sont les plus civils, les plus liberaux, et les mieux faitz; ils 
portent deux longues moustaches sur les oreilles, qui leur donnent 
bonne grace, ils passent pour les guerriers, et font rarement des 
parties sans succez; ils sont fort dociles, ils escoutent paisiblement 
ce qu’on leur dit et ont paru si avides d’entendre le P. Alloiies quand 
il les instruisoit, qu’ils luy donnoient peu de repos, mesme pendant 
la nuict. Les Maskoutens et les Kikabous sont plus grossiers et 



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


237 


semblent etre des paysantz en comparaison des autres. Comme les 
Escorces a faire des cabannes sont rares en ce pays la, ils se ser- 
vent de joncs qui leur tiennent lieu de murailles et de couvertures, 
mais qui ne les deffendant pas beaucoup des vents, et bien moins des 
pluyes quand elles tombent en abondance. La commodite de ces 
sortes de cabannes est qu’ils les mettent en pacquetz et les portent 
aisement ou ils veulent pendant le temps de leur chasse. 

Lorsque je les visitay, je fus extremement console de veoir une 
belle croix plantee au milieu du bourg et ornee de plusieurs peaux 
blanches, de ceintures rouges d’arcs et de fleches que ces bonnes gens 
avoient offertz au grand Manitou (c’estlenom qu’ils donnent a Dieu), 
pour le remercier de ce qu’il avoit eu pitie d’eux pendant l’hyver, 
leur dormant, une chasse abondante, lorsqu’ils apprendoient le plus la 
famine. 

Je pris plaisir de veoir la situation de cette bourgade, elle est belle 
et bien divertissante ; car d’une eminence, sur laquelle elle est 
placee, on decouvre de toutes parts des prairies a perte de vetie, 
partagees par des bocages ou par des bois de haute futaye. La 
terre y est tres bonne et rend beaucoup de bled d’inde ; les sauvages 
ramassent quantite de prunes et de raisins, dont on pourroit faire 
beaucoup de vin si Ton vouloit. 

Nous ne fumes pas plustost arrivez que nous assemblames les 
anciens M. Joelyet etmoy, il leur dit qu’il estoit envoye de la part de 
monsr. nostre gouverneur pour decouvrir de nouveaux pays et moi 
de la part de Dieu pour les esclairer des lumieres du St. Evangile; 
qu’au reste le maistre souverain de nos vies vouloit estre connu de 
toutes les nations, et que pour obeir a ses volontes, je ne craignois 
pas la mort a la quelle je m’exposois dans des voyages si perilleux; 
que nous avions besoin de deux guides pour nous mettre dans nostre 
route ; nous leur fimes un present, en les priant de nous les accor- 
der, ce qu’ils firent tres civilement et mesme voulurent aussi nous 
parler par un present qui fut une nate pour nous servir de lit pendant 
tout nostre voyage. 

Le lendemain qui fut le dixieme de Juin, deux Miamis qu’on 
nous donna pour guides s’embarquerent avec nous, a la veue d’un 
grand monde qui ne pouvoit assez s’estonner de veoir sept frangois, 
seuls et dans deux canotz oser entreprendre une expedition si ex- 
tresordinaire et si hazardeuse. 

Nous scavions qu’a trois lieiis de Maskoutens estoit une riviere 
qui se decharge dans Missispi; nous scavions encor que le rund de 


238 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


vent que nous devions tenir pour y arriver estoit l’ouest soroiiest, 
mais le chemin est partage de tant de marais et de petitz lacs, qu’il 
est aise de s’y egarer d’autant plus que la riviere qui y mene est si 
chargee de folle avoine, qu’on a peine a en reconnoistre le canal; 
c’est en quoy nous avions bien besoin de nos deux guides, aussi 
nous conduisirent ils heureusement jusqua un portage de 2,700 pas et 
nous aiderent a transporter nos canotz pour entrer dans cette riviere, 
apres quoy ils s’en retournerent nous laissant seuls en ce pays in- 
connu, entre les mains de la providence. 

Nous quittons done les eaux qui vont jusqua Quebeq a 400 ou 500 
lieues d’icy pour prendre celles qui nous conduiront desormais dans 
les terres estrangeres. Avant que de nous y embarquer, nous com- 
menqames tous ensemble une nouvelle devotion a la Ste. Vierge Im- 
maculee que nous pratiquames tous les jours, luy addressant des 
prieres particulieres pour mettre sous sa protection et nos personnes 
et le succez de nostre voyage et apres nous estre encourages les uns 
les autres nous montons en canot. 

La riviere sur laquelle nous nous embarquames s’appelle Mes- 
kousing. Elle est fort large, son fond est du sable, qui fait diverses 
battures lesquelles rendent cette navigation tres difficile ; elle est 
pleine d’isles couvertes de vignes ; sur les bords paroissent de bonnes 
terres, entremeslees de bois, de prairies et de costeaux, on y voit 
des chesnes, des noiers, des bois blancs et une autre espece d’arbres, 
dontz les branches sont. armees de longues espines. Nous n’avons 
vu ni gibier ni poisson, mais bien des chevreuils et des vacbes en 
assez grande quantite. Nostre route estoit au sunniest et apres 
avoir navige environ 30 lieues, nous apperceumes un endroit qui 
avoit toutes les apparences de mine de fer, et de fait un de nous qui en 
a veu autrefois assure que celle que nous avons trouve est fort bonne 
et tres abondante ; elle est couverte de trois pieds de bonne terre, 
assez proche d’une chaine de rocher, dont le bas est plein de fort 
beau bois. Apres 40 lieues sur cette mesme route nous arrivons a 
l’embouchure de nostre riviere et nous trouvant a 42 degrez et de¬ 
my d’eslevation, nous entrons heureusement dans Misissipi le 17 e 
Juin avec une joye que je ne peux pas expliquer. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


239 


SECTION IV. 

De la grande Riviere appclce Missisipi , ses plus notables particularity .— J)e 
divers animaux et particidiercment les Risikious ou bcevfs sauvages, leur figure 
et leur naturcl.—Des premiers villages des llinois ou les Francois arrivent. 

Nous voyla done sur cette riviere si renommee dont iay tache 
d’en remarquer attentivement toutes les singularites; la riviere de 
Missisipi tire son origine de divers lacs qui sont dans le pays des 
peuples du nord ; elle est estroitte a sa decharge de Miskous. Son 
conrant qui porte du coste du sud est lent et paisible. A la droitte 
on voist une grande chaisne de montagnes fort hautes et a la gauche 
de belles terres ; elle est coupee d’isles en divers endroietz. En 
sondant nous avons trouves dix brasses d’eau, sa largeur est fort 
inegale, elle a quelquefois trois quartz de lieiies, et quelquefois elle 
se retressit jusqua trois arpens. Nous suivons doucement son cours, 
qui va au sud et au sud est jusqu’aux 42 degres d’elevation. C’est 
icy que nous nous appercevons bien qu’elle a tout change de face. 
II n’y a presque plus de bois ny de montagnes, les isles sont plus 
belles et couvertes de plus beaux arbres ; nous ne voions que des 
chevreils et des vaches, des outardes et des cygnes sans aisles, par- 
cequ’ils quittent leurs plumes en ce pays. Nous rencontrons de 
temps en temps des poissons monstrueux, un desquels donna si rude- 
ment contre nostre canot, que je cru que e’estoit un gros arbre qui 
l’alloit mettre en pieces. Une autrefois nous apperceumes sur l’eau 
un monstre qui avoit une teste de tigre, le nez pointu comme celuy 
d’un chat sauvage, avec la barbe et des oreilles droittes elevees en 
haut, la teste estoit grize et le col tout noir, nous n’en vismes pas 
davantage. Quand nous avons jette nos retz a l’eau nous avons pris 
des esturgeons et une espece de poisson fort extresordinaire, il res- 
semble a la truitte avec cette difference, qu’il a la gueule plus grande, 
il a proche du nez (qui est plus petit aussi bien que les yeux) une 
grande areste, comme un bust de femme, large de trois doigts, long 
d’une coudee, aubout de laquelle est un rond large comme la main, 
Cela l’oblige souvent en saultant hors de l’eau de tomber en derriere. 
Estant descendus jusqua 41 degres 28 minuittes suivant le mesme 
rund, nous trouvons que les cocs d’inde out pris la place du gibier et 
les pisikious ou boeufs sauvages celles des autres bestes. 


240 NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 

I 

Nous les appelons bceufs sauvages parcequ’ils sont bien semblables 
a nos bceufs domestiques, ils ne sont pas plus longs, mais ils sont 
pres d’une fois plus gros et plus corpulentz ; nos gens en ayant tue 
un, trois personnes avoient bien de la peine a le remiier. Ils ont la 
teste forte grosse, le front plat et large d’un pied et demy entre les 
cornes qui sont entierement semblables a celles de nos bcpufs, mais 
elles sont noires et beaucoup plus grande. Ils ont sous le col comme 
une grande falle, qui pend en bas et sur le dos une bosse assez 
elevee. Toute la teste, la col et une partie des espaules sont cou- 
vertz d’un grand crin comme celuy des chevaux, c’est une hure longue 
d’un pied, qui les rend hideux et leur tombant sur les yeux les 
empeche de voire devant eux. Le reste du corps est revetu d’un 
gros poil frise a peu pres come celuy de nos moutons, mais bien 
plus fort et plus espais, il tombe en este et la peau devient douce 
comme du velours. C’est pourlors que les sauvages les employent 
pour s’en faire de belles Robbes qu’ils peignent de diverses couleurs; 
la chair et la graisse des pisikious est excellente et fait le meilleur 
mets des festins. Aureste ils sont tres mediants et il ne se passent 
point d’annee qu’ils ne tuent quelque sauvage ; quand on vient les 
attaquer, ils prennent s’ils peuvent un homme avec leurs cornes, 
l’enlevent en Fair, puis ils le jettent contre terre, le foulent des pieds et 
le tuent. Si on tire de loing sur eux ou de Fare au du fusil, il faut si 
tost apres le coup se jetter a terre et se cacher dans l’herbe, car s’ils 
apercoivent celuy qui a tire, ils courent. apres et le vont attaquer. 
Comme ils ont les pieds gros et assez courtz, ils ne vont pas bien 
viste pour l’ordinaire, si ce n’est lorsqu’ils sont irritez. Ils sont 
espars dans les prairies comme des troupeaux; j’en ay veu une bande 
de 400. 

Nous avancons tousjours mais comme nous ne s£avions pas oh 
nous allions ayant fait deia plus de cent lieiies sans avoir rien de- 
couvert que des bestes et des oyseaux nous nous tenons bien sur nos 
gardes; c’est pourquoy nous ne faisons qu’un petit feu a terre sur le 
soir pour preparer nos repas et apres souper nous nous eh eloignons 
le plus que nous pouvons et nous allons passer la nuict dans nos 
canotz que nous tenons a l’ancre sur la riviere assez loing des bords ; 
ce qui n’empeche pas que quelqu’un denous ne soit tousjour en sen- 
tinelle de peur de surprise, Allant par le sud et le sud sunniest nous 
nous trouvons ala hauteur de 41 degrez et jusqua40 degrez quelques 
minutes en partie par sudest et en partie par le suroiiest apres avoir 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


241 


avance plus de 60 lieiies depuis nostre entree dans la Riviere sans 
rien decouvrir. 

Enfin le 25e Juin nous aperceumes sur le bord de l’eau des pistes 
d’hommes, et un petit sentier assez battu, qui entroit dans une belle 
prairie. Nous nous arrestames pour l’examiner, et jugeant que 
cestoit un chemin qui conduisoit a quelque village de sauvages, nous 
primes resolution de l’aller reconnoistre : nous laissons done nos 
deux canotz sous la garde de nos gens, leur recommandant bien de 
ne se pas laisser surprendre, apres quoy M. Jollyet et moy entre- 
primes cette decouverte assez hazardeuse pour deux homines seuls 
qui s’exposent a la discretion d’un peuple barbare et inconnu. Nous 
suivons en silence ce petit sentier et apres avoir fait environ 2lieiies, 
nous decouvrimes un village sur le bord d’une riviere,et deux autres 
sur un costeau escarte du premier d’une demi lieiie Ce fut pour lors 
que nous nous recommandames, a Dieu de bon cceur et ayant im¬ 
plore son secours nous passames outre sans etre decouverts et nous 
vinsmes si pres que nous entendions mesme parler les sauvages. 
Nous crumes done qu’il estoit temps de nous decouvrir, ce que nous 
fismes par un cry que nous poussames de Unites nos forces, en nous 
arrestant sans plus avancer. A ce cry les sauvages sortent prompte- 
ment de leurs cabanes et nous ayant probablement reconnus pour 
fran^ois, surtout voyant une robe noire, ou du moins n’ayant aucun 
suject de deffiance, puisque nous n’estions que deux hommes, et que 
nous les avions advertis de nostre arrivee, ils deputerent quattre viel- 
liards, pour nous venir parler, dontz deux portoient des pipes a pren¬ 
dre du tabac, bien ornees et empanachees de divers plumages, ils 
marchoient a petit pas, et elevant leurs pipes vers le soleil, ils sem- 
bloient luy presenter a fumer, sans neamoins dire aucun mot. Ils 
furent assez long temps a faire le peu de chemin depuis leur village 
jusqu’a nous. Enfin nous ayant abordes, ils s’arresterent pour nous 
considerer avec attention; je me rassuray, voyant ces ceremonies, 
que ne se font parmy eux qu’entre amys, et bien plus quand je les vis 
couvertz d’eStoffe, jugeant par laqu’ils estoient de nos alliez. Je leur 
parlay done le premier et je leur demanday, qui ils estoient, ils me 
repondirent qu’ils estoient Ilinois et pour marque de paix ils nous 
presenterent leur pipe pour petuner, ensuitte ils nous inviterent 
d’entrer dans leur village, ou tout le peuple nous attendoit avec im¬ 
patience. Ces pipes a prendre du tabac s’appellent en ce pays des 
calumetz ; ce mot sy est mis tellement en usage, que pour estre en- 
tendu je seray oblige de m’en servir ayant a en parler bien des fois„ 

16 


242 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


SECTION y. 

Comment les llinois receurent le Pere dans leur Bourgade. 

A la porte de la cabane ou nous devions estie receus, estoit un 
vielliardqui nous attendoit dans une posture assez surprenante, qui est 
la ceremonie qu’ils gardent quand ils recoivent des estrangers. Cet 
homme estoit debout et tout, nud,tenant ses mains estendus et levees 
vers le soleil, comine s’il eut voulu se deffendre de ses rayons, les- 
quels neamoins passoient sur son visage entre ses doigts ; quand 
nous fusmes proclies de luy, il nous fit ce compliment; que le soleil 
est beau, frangois, quand tu nous viens visiter, tout nostre bourg 
t’attend, et tu entreras en paix dans toute nos cabanes. Cela dit, il 
nous introduisit, dans la sienne, ou il y avoit une foule de monde qui 
nous devoroit des yeux, qui cependant gardoit un profond silence, 
on entendoit neamoins ces paroles qu’on nous addressoit de temps en 
temps et d’une voix basse, que voyla qui est bien, mes freres, de ce 
que vous nous visitez. 

Apres que nous eusmes pris place, on nous fit la civilite ordinaire 
du pays, qui est de nous presenter le calumet; il ne faut. pas le 
refuser, si on ne veut passer pour ennemy, du du moins pour in- 
civil, pourveu qu’on fasse semblant de fumer, c’est assez ; pendant 
que tous les anciens petunoient apres nous pour nous honorer, on 
vient nous inviter de la part du grande capitaine de tous les llinois 
de nous transporter en sa Bourgade, ou il vouloit tenir conseil avec 
nous. Nous y allames en bonne compagnie, car tous ces peuples, 
qui n’avoient jamais veil de frangois chez eux ne se lassoient. point 
de nous regarder, ils se couchoient sur l’herbe le long des chemins, 
ils nous devangoient, puis ils retourrioient sur leurs pas pour nous 
venir voir encor. Tout cela se faisoit sans bruit et avec les marques 
d’un grand respect qu’ils avoient pour nous. 

Estant arrivez au Bourg du grand Capitaine, nous le vismes a 
l’entree de sa cabanne, au milieu de deux vielliards, tout trois debout 
et nud tenant leur calumet tourne vers le soleil, il nous harangua en 
peu de motz, nous felicitant de nostre arrivee, il nous presenta en- 
suitte son calumet et nous fit fumer, en mesme temps que nous 
entrions dans sa cabanne, ou nous receumes toutes leurs caresses 
ordinaires. 


DISCOVERIES IN TIIE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


243 


Voyant tout le monde assemble et dans le silence, je leur parlay 
par quattre presents que je leur fis, par le premier je leur disois que 
nous marchions en paix pour visiter les nations qui s’etoient sur la 
riviere jusqu’a la mer; par le second je leur declaray que Dieu qui 
les a crees avoit pitie d’eux, puisqu’apres tant de temps qu’ils l’ont 
ignore, il vouloit se faire connoistre a tous ces peuples, que jestois 
envoye de sa part pour ce dessein, que c’estoit a eux a le reconnois- 
tre et a luy obeir, Par le troisieme que le grand capitaine des fran- 
qois leur faisoit syavoir que c’estoit luy qui mettoit la paix partout et 
qui avoit dompte l’lroquois. Enfiri par le quatrieme nous les prions 
de nous donner toutes les connoissances qu’ils avoient de la mer, et 
des nations par lesquelles nous devions passer pour y arriver. 

Quand jeu finy mon discour, le capitaine se leva, et tenant le main 
sur la teste d’un petit esclave qu’il nous vouloit donner il par la 
ainsi. Ie te remercie Robe Noire, et toy franqois (s’addressant a 
M.Jollyet), de ce que vous prenez tant de peine pour nous venir 
visiter, jamais la terre n’a este si belle ny le soleil si eclatant qu’au- 
jourdhui; jamais notre riviere n’a este si calme, n’y si nette de 
rochers que vos canotz ont erdevees en passant, jamais nostre petun 
n’a eu si bon gout, n’y nos bleds n’ont paru si beau que nous les 
voions maintenant. Voicy mon fils que je te donne pour te faire con¬ 
noistre mon cceur, je te prie d'avoir pitie de moy et de toute ma nation, 
c’est toy qui connoist le grand Genie qui nous a tous faits, c’est toy 
qui luy parle et quy escoute sa parole, demande luy qu’il me donne 
la vie et la sante et vierit demeurer avec nous, pour nous le faire con¬ 
noistre. Cela dit il mit le petit esclave proche de nous,et nous fit un 
second present, qui estoit un calumet tout mysterieux, dont ils font 
plus d’estat que d’un esclave ; il nous temoignoit par ce present l’es- 
time qu’il faisoit de monsieur nostre gouverneur, sur le recit que nous 
luy en avions fait; et pour un troisieme il nous prioit de la part de 
toute sa nation, de ne pas passer oultre, a cause des grands dangers 
ou nous nous exposions. 

Je repondis que je ne craignois point la mort, et que je n’estimois 
point de plus grand bonheur que de perdre la vie pour la gloire de 
Celuy que a tout fait. C’est ce que ces pauvres peuples ne peuvent 
com prendre. 

Le conseil fut suivy d’un grand festin qui consistoit en quattre 
metz, qui’l fallut prendre avec toutes leurs fayons, le premier service 
fut un grand plat de bois plein de sagamite, c’est-a-dire de farine de 
bled d’inde qu’on fait bouillur avec de l’eau qu’on assaisonne de graisse. 


244 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


Le maistre des ceremonies avec une cuillier pleine de sagamite me 
la presenta a la bouche par trois ou 4 fois, comme on feroit a un petit 
enfant, il fit le mesme a M. Jollyet. Pour second mets il fit par- 
oistre un second plat ou il y avoit trois poissons, il en prit quelques 
morceaux pour en oster les arestes, et. ayant souffle dessus pour les 
rafraichir, il nous les mit a la bouche, comme Ton donneroit la 
beschee a un oyseau. On apporte pour troisieme service un grand 
chien, qu on venoit de tuer, mais ayant appris que nous n’en mangions 
point, on le retira de devant nous. Enfin le 4 e fut une piece de 
bceuf sauvage, dont on nous mit a la bouche les morceaux les plus 
gras. 

Apres ce festin il fallut aller visiter tout le village, qui est bien 
compose de 300 cabannes. Pendant que nous marchions par les 
rues, un orateur haranguoit continuellement pour obliger tout le 
monde a nous voir, sans nous estre importuns; on nous presentoit 
partout des ceintures, des jartieres et autres ouvrages faits de poil 
d’ours et de bceuf et teins en rouge, en jaune, et en gris, ce sont 
toutes les raretez qu’ils ont; commes elles ne sont pas bien consider- 
bles, nous ne nous en chargeames point. 

Nous couchames dans la cabane du capitaine etle lendemain nous 
prismes conge de luy, promettant de repasser par son bourg dans 
quatre lunes. Il nous conduisit jusqua nos canotz avec pres de 600 
personnes qui nous virent embarquer, nous donnant toutes les 
marques qu’ils pouvoient de la joye que notre visite leur avoit causee. 
Je m’engageay en mon particulier, en leur disant adieu que je vien 
drois l’an prochain demeurer avec eux pour les instruire. Mais 
avant que de quitter le pays des llinois, il est bon que je rapporte ce 
que j’ay reconnu de leurs coustumes et fa^ons de faire. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


245 


SECTION VI. 

Du naturel des Ilinois, de leurs mcurs, et de leurs coustumes, dc Tcstiinc qu'ils ont 

pour le Calumet ou pipe a prendre du Tabac et de la danse qu'ils font en son 

honneur. 

Qui dit Ilinois, c’est comme qui diroit en leur langue les 
hommes, comme si les autres sauvages, aupres d’euxne passoient que 
pour des bestes, aussi faut il advouer qu’ils ont un air d’humanit6 
que nous n’avons pas remarquc dans les autres nations que nous 
avons veiies sur nostre route. Le peu de sejour que jay fait parmy 
eux ne m’a pas permis de prendre toutes les connoissances que 
j’aurois souhaite ; de toutes leurs fa^ons de faire voicy ce que j’en 
ay remarque. 

Us sont divises en plusieures bourgades dont quelquesunes sont 
asses eloignees de celle dont nous parlons qui s’appelle Peoiiarea, 
c’est ce qui met de la difference en leur langue, laquelle universalle- 
ment tient de l’allegonquin de sorte que nous nous entendions facile- 
ment les uns les autres. Leur naturel est doux et traitable, nous 
1’avons experimente dans la reception qu’il nous ont faitte. Ils ont 
plusieurs femmes dont ils sont extremement jaloux, ils les veillent avec 
un grand soin et ils leur couppent le nez ou les oreilles quand elles 
ne sont pas sages, j’en ay veu plusieures qui portoient les marques de 
leurs desordres. Ils ont le corps bien fait, ils sont lestes et fort 
adroits a tirer de Fare et de la fleche. Ils se servent aussi des fusils 
qu’ils acheptent des sauvages nos allies qui ont commerce avec nos 
fram^ois ; ils en usent particulierement pour donner l’epouvante par 
le bruit et par la fumee a leurs ennemys qui n’en n’ont point l’usage 
et n’en ont jamais veu pour estre trop eloigne vers le couchant. Ils 
sont belliqueux et se rendent redoutables aux peuples eloignes du 
sud et de l’ouest, ou ils vent faire des esclaves, desquels ils se ser¬ 
vent pour trafiquer, les vendant cherement a d’autres nations, pour 
d’autres marchandises. Ces sauvages si eloignes chez qui ils vont 
en guerre n’ont aucune connoissance d’Europeans; ils ne savent ce 
que c’est ny de fer ny de cuivre et n’ont que des couteaux de 
pierre. Quand les Ilinois partent pour aller on guerre, il faut que 
tout le bourg en soit adverty par le grand cry qu’ils font a la porte 
de leurs cabanes, le soir et le matin avant que de partir. Les capi- 


246 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


taines se distinguent des soldats par des escharpes rouges qu’ils por¬ 
tent, elles sont faittes de crin d’ours et du poil de boeufs sauvages 
avec assez d’industrie ; ils se peignent le visage d’un rouge de san¬ 
guine, dont ily a grande quantite a quelques journees du bourg. Ils 
vivent de chasse qui est abondante en ce pays et de bled d’inde dont 
ils font tousjour une bonne recolte, aussi n’ont ils jamais souffert de 
famine, ils sement aussi des febves et des melons qui sont excel- 
lentz, surtout ceux qui ont la graine rouge, leurs citrouilles ne sont 
pas des meilleures, ils les font secher au soleil pour les manger 
pendant l’hyver et le primptemps. Leur cabanes sont fort grandes, 
elles sont couvertes et pavees de nattes faittes de joncs : ils trouvent 
toutes leur vaiselle dans le bois et leurs cuilliers dans la teste de 
boeufs dont ils savent si bien accommoder le crane qu’ils s’en servent 
pour manger aisement leur sagamite. 

Ils sont liberaux dans leurs maladies, et croyent que les medica- 
mens qu’on leur donne, operent a proportion des presents qu’iis 
auront fais au medecin. Ils n’ont que des peaux pour habitz, les 
femmes sont tousjours vestiies fort modestement et dans une grande 
bien seance au lieu que les homines ne se mettent pas en peine de 
se couvrir. Je ne scais par quelle superstition quelques Ilinois, 
aussi bien que quelques Nadoiiessi, estant encore jeunes prennent 
l’habit des femmes qu’ils gardent toute leur vie. II y a du mystere ; 
car il ne se marient jamais, et font gloire de s’abaisser a faire tout 
ce que font les femmes ; ils vont pourtant en guerre, mais ils ne 
peuvent se servir que de la massue, et non pas de l’arc ny de la 
fleche qui sont les armes propres des homines, ils assistent a toutes 
les jongleries et aux danses solemnelles qui se font a l’honneur du 
calumet, ils y chantent mais ils n’y peuvent pas danser, ils sont ap- 
pelles aux conseils, ou l’on ne peut rien decider sans leurs advis; 
enfin par le profession qu’ils font d’une vie extresordinaire, ils pas- 
sent pour des manitous, e’est-adire pour des Genies ou des personnes 
de consequence. 

II ne reste plus qu’a parler du calumet. II n’est rien parmy eux ny 
de plus mysterieux ny de plus recommandable, on ne rend pas tant 
d’honneur aux couronnes et aux sceptres des Roys qu’ils luy en ren- 
dent; il semble estre le dieu de la paix et de la guerre, l’arbitre de la 
vie et de la mort. C’est assez de le porter sur soy et de le faire voir pour 
marcher en assurance au milieu des ennemys, qui dans le fort du com¬ 
bat mettent bas les armes quand on le montre. C’est pour cela que les 
Ilinois m’en donnerent un pour me servir de sauvegarde parmy toutes 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


247 


les nations, parlesquelles je devois passer dans mon voyage. II ya un 
calumet pour la paix et un pour la guerre, qui ne sont distingue que 
par la couleur des plumages dontz ils sont ornes. (Le Rouge est 
marque de guerre), ils s’en servent encor pour terminer leur differ 
ents, pour affermir leurs alliances et pour parler aux estrangers.* II 
est compose d’une pierre rouge polie comine du marbre et percee 
d’une telle faqon qu’un bout sert a recevoir le tabac et l’autre s’en- 
clave dans le manche, qui est un baston de deux pieds de long, gros 
comme une canne ordinaire et percee par le milieu ; il est embelly 
de la teste et du col de divers oyseaux, dont le plumage est tres 
beau; ils y ajoutent aussi de grandes plumes rouges, vertes et 
d’autres couleurs, dont il est tout empanache; ils en font estat par- 
ticulierement, parcequ’ils le regardent comme le calumet du soleil; 
et de fait ils le luy presentent pour fumer quand ils veulent obtenir 
du calme, ou de la pluye ou du beau temps. Ils font scrupule de 
se baigner au commencement de l’Este, ou de manger des fruits 
nouveaux qu’apres l’avoir dance. En voicy la faqon. 

La danse du calumet, qui est fort celebre parmy ces peuples, ne 
se fait que pour des sujets considerables ; quelque fois c’est pour af¬ 
fermir la paix ou se reiinir pour quelque grande guerre ; c’est d’au¬ 
tres fois pour une rejoiiissance publique, tantost on en fait honneur a 
tine nation qu’on invite d’y assister, tantost ils sen servent a la re¬ 
ception de quelque personne considerable comme s’ils vouloient luy 
donner le divertissement du Bal ou de la Cornede ; l’hyver la cere- 
monie se fait dans une cabane, l’Este c’est en raze campagne. La 
place etant choisie, on 1’environne tout a l’entour d’arbres pour 
mettre tout le monde a l’ombre de leurs feuillages, pour se defendre 
des chaleurs du soleil; on etend une grande natte de joncs peinte 
de diverses couleurs au milieu de la place ; elle sert comme de 
tapis pour mettre dessus avec honneur le Dieu de celuy qui fait la 
Dance ; car ehacun a le sien, qu’ils appellent leur manitou, c’est un 
serpent ou un oyseau, ou chose semblable qu’ils ont resve en dor¬ 
mant et en qui ils mettent tout leur confiance pour le succez deleur 
guerre, de leur pesche et de leur chasse ; pres de ce manitou et a sa 
droite, on met le calumet en 1’honneur de qui se fait la feste et tout 
a l’entour on fait comme une trophee et on estend les armes dont se 
servent les guerriers de ces nations, s^avoir la massiie, la hache 
d arme, l’arc, le carquois et les fleches. 


* From this to the next star is from Thevenot. 


248 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


Les choses estant ainsi disposees et l’heure de la dance appro- 
chant, ceux qui sont nomraez pour chanter prennent la place la plus 
honorable sous les feiiillages ; ce sont les hommes et les femmes qui 
ont les plus belles voix, et qui s’accordent parfaitement bien ensem¬ 
ble ; tout le monde vient ensuitte se placer en rond sous les branches, 
mais chacun en arrivant doit saltier le manitou, ce qu’il fait en petu- 
nant et jettant de sa bouche la fumee sur luy comme s’il luy pre- 
sentoit de Pencens ; chacun va d’abord avec respect prendre le cal¬ 
umet et le soutenant des deux mains, il le fait dancer en cadence, 
s’accordant bien avec Pair des chansons ; il luy fait faire des figures 
bien differentes, tantost il le fait voir a toute Passemblee se tournanl 
de cote et d’autre ; apres cela, celuy qui doit commencer la dance 
paroist au milieu de Passemblee et va d’abord et tantost il le presente 
au soleil, comme s’il le vouloit faire fumer, tantost il l’incline vers la 
terre, d’autrefois il luy estend les aisles comme pour voler, d’autres 
fois il l’approche de la bouche des assistans, afinqu’ils foment, le 
tout en cadence, et c’est comme la premiere scene du Ballet. 

La seconde consiste en un combat qui se fait au son d’une espece 
de tambour, qui succede aux chansons, ou mesme qui s’y joignant 
s’accordent fort bien ensemble ; le Danseur fait signe a quelque 
guerrier de venir prendre les armes qui sont sur la natte et Pinvite 
a se battre au son des tambours ; celuyci s’approche, prend Parc et 
la fleche, avec la hache d’armes et commence le duel contre l’autre, 
qui n’a point d’autre defense que le calumet. Ce spectacle est fort 
agreable, surtout les faisant tousjours en cadence, car Pun attaque, 
Pautre se defend, Pun porte des coups, Pautre les pare, Pun fuit, Pautre 
le poursuit et puis celuy qui fuyoit tourne visage et fait friyr son en- 
nemy, ce qui se passe si bien par mesure et a pas comptez et au son 
regie des voix et des tambours, que cela pourroit passer pour une 
assez belle entree de Ballet en France. 

La troisieme scene consiste en un grand discours que Fait celuy 
qui tient le calumet, car le combat estant fini sans sang repandu, il 
raconte les batailles o’u il s’est trouve, les victoires qu’il a remportees, 
il nomme les nations, les lieux et les captifs qu’il a faitz, et pour re¬ 
compense celuy qui preside a la danse luy fait present d’une belle 
robe de castor ou de quelque autre chose et Payant receu il va pre¬ 
senter le calumet a un autre, celuyci a un troisieme, et ainsi de tous 
les autres, jusqu’aceque tous ayant fait leur devoir, le President fait 
present du calumet mesme a la nation qui a este invitee a cette ceremo- 
nie,pour marque de la paix eternelle qui seraentro les deux peoples. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


249 


Voicy quelqu’une des chansons qu’ils ont coustume de chanter, ils 
leur donnent un certain tour qu’on ne peut assez exprimer par la 
notte, qui neamoins en fait toute la grace. 

“Ninahani, ninahani, ninahani, naniongo.” 


SECTION VII. 

Nous prenons conge de nos Ilinois sur la fin de Juin vers les trois 
heures apres midy, nous nous embarquons a laveiie de tous ces 
peuples qui admiroient nos petits canotz, n’en ayant jamais veu de 
semblables. 

Nous descendons suivant le courant de la riviere appellee Pekit- 
anoiii, qui se decharge dans Missisipi venant du Nordoiiest, de la 
quelle j’ay quelque chose de considerable a dire apres que j’auray 
raconte ce que j’ay remarque sur cette riviere.* Passant proche des 
rochers assez hautz qui bordent la riviere j’apperceu un simple qui 
m’a paru fort extraordinaire. La racine est semblable a des petitz 
naveaux attachez les uns aux autres par des petitz filetz qui ont 
le gout de carote ; de cette racine sort une feuille large comme la 
main, espaisses d’un demi doigt avec des taches au milieu; de cette 
feuille naissent d’autres feuilles resemblables aux plaques qui servent 
de flambeaux dans nos sales et chasque feuille porte cinq ou six 
fleurs jaunes en forme de clochettes. 

Nous trouvames quantite de meures aussi grosses que celle de 
France, et un petit fruict que nous prismes d’abord pour des olives, 
mais il avoit le gout d’orange et un aultre fruict gros comme un ceuf 
de poule, nous le fendismes en deux et parurent deux separations, 
dans chasqu’une desquelles il y a 8 ou 10 fruicts enchassez, ils ont 
la fio-ure d’amande et sont fort bons quand ils sont meurs ; l’arbre 
neamoins qui les porte a tres mauvaise odeur et sa feuille ressemble 
a celle de noyer, il se trouve aussi dans les prairies un fruit sembla¬ 
ble a des noisettes mais plus tendre : les feuilles sont fort grandes 
et viennent d’une tige au bout de laquelle est une teste semblable a 
celle d’un tournesol, dans laquelle toutes ces noisettes sont propre- 
ment arrangees, elles sont fort bonnes et cuites et crues. 

Comme nous cottoions des rochers affreux pour leur haulteur et 
pour leur longeur, nous vismes sur un de ses rochers deux monstres 



250 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


en peinture qui nous firent peur d’abord et sur lesquels les sauvages 
les plus hardys n’osent pas arrester longtemps les yeux ; ils sont gros 
comme un veau ; ils ont des cornes en teste comines des chevreils ; 
un regard affreux, des yeux rouges, une barbe comme d’un tyore, la 
face a quelque chose de l’homme, le corps couvert d’ecailles et la 
queue si longue qu’elle fait tout le tour du corps passant par dessus 
la teste et retournant entre les jambes elle se termiue eu queue de 
poisson. Le vert le rouge et le noirastre sont les trois couleurs qui 
le composent; au reste ces 2 monstres sont si bien peint que nous ne 
pouvons pas croire qu’aucun sauvage en soil l’autheur, puisqueles 
bons peintres en France auroient peine a si bien faire, venque d'ail- 
leurs ils sont si hauts sur le rocher qu’il est difficile d’y atteindre 
commodement pour les peindre. Yoicy apeupres la figure de ces 
monstres comme nous l’avons contretiree. 

Comme nous entretenions sur ces monstres, voguant paisiblement 
dans une belle eau claire et dormante nous entendisme le bruit d’un 
rapide, dans lequel nous allions tomber. Je n’ay rien veu de plus 
affreux, un ambaras de gros arbres entiers, de branches, d’isletz flo- 
tans, sortoit de l’embouchure de la riviere Pekitanoiii avec taut d’im- 
petuosite qu’on ne pouvoit s’exposer a passer au travers sans grand 
danger. L’agitation estoit telle que l’eau en estoit toute boueuse 
et ne pouvoit s’epurer. Pekitanoiii est une riviere considerable qui 
venant d’assez loing du coste du norouest, se decharge dans Mis- 
sisipi, plusieurs Bourgades de sauvages sont placees le long de cette 
riviere et jespere par son moyen faire la decouverte de la mer Ver- 
meille ou de Californie. 

Nous jugeons bien par le rund de vent que tient Missisippi, si elle 
continue dans la mesme route, qu’elle a sa decharge dans le golphe 
mexique ; il seroit bien advantageux de trouver celle qui conduit a la 
mer du sud, vers la Californie et c’est comme j’ay dit ce que j’espere 
de rencontrer par Pekitanoiii, suivant le rapport que m’en ont fait les 
sauvages, desquels j’ay appris qu’en refoulant cette riviere pendant 5 
ou 6 journees on trouve une belle prairie de 20 ou 30 lieiies de long, 
il faut la traverser allant au norouest, elle se termiue a une autre 
petite riviere, sur laquelle on peut s’embarquer, n’etant pas bien dif¬ 
ficile de transporter les canotz par un si beau pays telle qu’est cette 
prairie. Cette 2de riviere a son cours vers le souroiiest pendant 10 ou 
15 lieiies, apres quoy elle entre dans un petit lac, que est la source d’une 
autre riviere profonde, laquelle va au couchant, ou elle se jette dans 
la mer. Je ne doubte presque point que ce ne soit la Mer Vermeille, 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


251 


et je ne desespere pas d'en faire un jour la decouverte, si Dieu m’en 
fait la grace etme donne la saute affin de pouvoir publier l’Evangile 
a tous les peuples de ce nouveau monde, qui out croupi si longtemps 
dans les tenebres de l’infidelite. 

Reprenons nostre route apres nous estre eschape coniine nous 
avons pu de ce dangereux rapide cause par l’ambaras dont j’ay parle. 


SECTION VIII. 

Des nouveaux pays que le Pere decouvrc.—Diverses particularity.—Rencontre 
de quelques sauvages : premieres nouvelles de la Mer et dcs Europeans.—Grand 
danger evite par le moyen du calumet. 

Apres avoir fait environ 20 lieiies droit au sud et un peu moins au 
sudest nous nous trouvons a une riviere nominee Ouaboukigou dont 
l’embouchure est par les 36 degrez d’elevation. Avant que d’y 
arriver nous passons par un lieu redoutable aux sauvages parcequ’ils 
estiment qu’il y a un manitou, e’est a dire un demon qui devore les 
passans et e’est de quoy nous mena^oient les sauvages qui nous 
vouloient detourner de nostre enterprise. Voicy ce demon, e’est une 
petite anse de rochers haulte de 20 pieds ou se degorge tout le 
courant de la riviere lequel estant repousse contre celuy qui le suit 
et arreste par une isle qui est proche, est contraint de passer par un 
petit canal, ce qui ne se fait pas sans un furieux combat de toutes ces 
eaux qui rebroussent les uns sur autres et sans un grand tintamarre 
qui donne de la terreur a des sauvages qui craignent tout, mais cela 
ne nous empeche point de passer et d’arriver a 8ab8kig8. Cette 
riviere vient des terres du levant ou sont les peuples qu’on appelle 
Chaoiianons, en si grand nombre, qu’en un quartier on compte jusqua 
23 villages et 15 enun aultre, assez proches les uns des aultres ; ils 
ne sont nullement guerriers, et ce sont les peuples que les Iroquois 
vont chercher si loing pour leur faire la guerre sans aucun sujet, et 
pareeque ces pauvres gens ne scavent pas se deffendre, ils se lais- 
sent prendre et emmener comme des trouppeaux, et tout innocents 
qu'ils sont, ils ne laissant pas de ressentir quelque fois la barbarie 
des Iroquois qui les bruslent cruellement. 

Une peu au dessus de cette riviere dont ie viens de parler sont 
des falaises ou nos franqois ont apperceu une mine de fer, qu’ils 



252 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


jugent. tres abondante, il'y en a plusieures veines et un lit d un pied 
de hauteur; on en voit. de gros morceaux liez avec des cailloux. II 
s’y trouve d’une terre grasse de trois sortes de couleurs, de pourpre 
de violet et des Rouges. L’eau dans laquelle on la lave prend la 
couleur de sang. II y a aussi d’un sable rouge fort pesant. J’en mis 
sur un aviron qui en prit la couleur si fortement, que l’eau ne la put 
effacer pendant 15 jours que je m’en servois pour nager. 

C’est icy que nous commencons a voir des Cannes ou gros roseaux 
qui sont sur le bord de la riviere, elles ont un vert fort agreable, tous 
les noeuds sont couronnez de feuilles longues, estroittes et pointiies, 
elles sont fort hautes et en si grande quantite que les bceufs sauvages 
ont peine de les forcer. 

Jus lu’a present nous n’avions point estez incommodes des marin- 
gouins, mais nous entrons comme dans leur pays. Yoicy ce que font 
les sauvages de ces quartiers pour s’en deffendre ; ils elevent un es¬ 
chaffault dont le plancher n’est fait que de perches, et par consequent 
est perce a jour affinque la fuinee du feu qu’ils font dessous passe 
au travers et chasse ces petitz animaux qui ne la peuvent supporter, 
on se couche sur les perches au dessus desquelles sont des escorces 
estendiies contre la pluye. Cet eschaffault leur sert encor contre 
les chaleurs excessives et insupportables de ce pays, car on s’y 
met a l’ombre a l’estage d’en bas et on s’y garantit des rayons du 
soleil, prenant le frais du vent qui passe librement autravers de cet 
eschaffault. 

Dans le mesme dessein nous fusmes contraints de faire sur l’eau 
une espece de cabane avec nos voiles pour nous mettre a couvert et 
des maringouins et des rayons du soleil, comme nous nous laissons 
aller en cet estat au gre de l’eau, nous apperceumes a terre des 
sauvages armez de fusilz avec lesquels ils nous attendoient. Je leur 
presentay d’abord mon calumet empanache, pendant que nos franqois 
se mettent en deffense, et attendoient a tirer, que les sauvages ; 
eussent fait la premiere decharge, je leur parlay en Huron, mais ils 
me repondirent par un mot qui me sembloit nous declarer la guerre, 
ils avoient neamoins autant de peur que nous, et ceque nous prenions 
pour signal de guerre, estoit une invitation qu’ils nous faisoit de 
nous approcher, pour nous donner a manger, nous debarquons done 
et nous entrons dans leur cabanes ou ils nous presente du bceuf 
sauvage et de l’huile d’ours, avec des prunes blanches qui sont tres 
excellentes. Ils ont des fusils, des haches, des holies, des coust- 
eaux, de la rassade, des bouteilles de verre double ou ils mettent leur 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


253 


poudre, ils ont les cheveux longs et se marquent par le corps a la 
fa9on des hiroquois, les femmes sont coifles et vestiies a la fa<jon des 
huronnes, ils nous assurerent qu’ils n’y avoit plus que dix journees 
jusqua la mer, qu’ils acheptoient les estoffes et toutes autres mar- 
chandises des Europeans qui estoient du coste de l’Est, que ces 
Europeans avoient des chapeletz et des images, qu’ils joiioient des 
instrumentz, qu’il y en avoit qui estoient faitz comme moy et qu’ils 
en estoient bien receu; cependant je ne vis personne qui me parut 
avoir receu aucune instruction pour la foy, le leurs en donnay ceque 
je pfts avec quelques medailles. 

Ces nouvelles animerent nos courages et nous firent prendre 
l’aviron avec une nouvelle ardeur. Nous avan^ons done et nous ne 
voions plus tant de prairies pareeque les 2 coslez de la riviere sont 
bordez de hauts bois. Les cottonniers, les ormes et les boisblancs 
y sont admirables pour leur haulteur et leur grosseur. La grande 
quantite de bceufs sauvages que nous entendions meugler nous fait 
croire que les prairies sont. proclies, nous voions aussi des cailles 
le bord de l’eau, nous avons tue un petit perroquet qui avoit la 
moitie de la teste rouge, l’autre et le col jaune et tout le corps vert. 
Nous estions descendus proche des 33 degrez d’eslevation ayant 
presque tousjour este vers le sud, quand nous apperceumes un village 
sur le bord de l’eau nomme Mitchigamea. Nous eusmes recours a 
nostre Patronne et a nostre conductrice la Ste. Vierge Immaculee, et 
nous avions bien besoin de son assistance, car nous entendismes de 
loing les sauvages qui s’animoient au combat par leurs crys continu- 
els, ils estoient armes d’arcs, de fleches, de haches, de massiies et 
de boucliers, ils se mirent en estat de nous attaquer par terre et par 
eau, une partie s’embarque dans de grands canotz de bois, les uns 
pour monter la riviere, les autres pour la descendre, affin de nous 
coupper chemin, et nous envelopper de tous costez ; ceux qui es¬ 
toient a terre alloient et venoient comme pour commencer 1’attaque. 
De fait de jeunes hommes se jetterent a 1’eau, pour venire saiser de 
mon canot, mais le courant, les ayant contraint de reprendre terre, un 
d’eux nous jetta sa. massiie qui passa par dessus nous sans nous 
frapper ; j’avois beau montrer le calumet, et leur faire signe par gestes 
que nous ne venions pas en guerre, l’alarme continuoit tousjour et 
1’on se preparoit. deia a nous percer de fleches de toutes parts, quand 
Dieu toucha solldainement le cceur des vieillards qui estoient sur le 
bord de l’eau sans doubte par la veiie de nostre calumet qu’ils n’a- 
voient pas bien reconnu de loing, mais comme je ne cessois de le 


254 


NARRATIVE OF FATTIER MARQUETTE. 


faire paroistre, ils en furent toucliez, arresterent l’ardeur de leur 
jeunesse et mesme deux de ces anciens ayant jet.tez dans nostre 
canot comme a nos pieds leurs arcs et leurs carquois pour nous 
mettre en asseurance, ils y entrerent et nous firent approcher de 
terre, ou nous debarquames non pas sans crainte de nostre part. II 
fallut au commencement parler par gestes, parceque personne n’en- 
tendoit rien des six langues que je scavois, il se trouva enfin un 
vielliard qui parloit un peu l’llinois. 

Nous leurs Times paroistre par nos presens que nous allions a la 
mer, ils entendirent bien ce que nous leur voulions dire, mais je ne 
scay s’ils con 9 eurent ce que je leurs dis de Dieu et des choses de 
leur salut, c’est une semence jettee en terre qui fructifira en son 
temps. Nous n’eusmes point d’autre reponse si non que nous ap- 
prendrions tout ce que nous desirions d’un aultre grand village nom- 
me Akamsea qui n’estoit qu’a 8 ou 10 lieiies plus bas, ils nous pre- 
senterent de la sagamite et du poisson et nous passames la nuict 
chez eux avec assez d’inquietude. 


SECTION IX. 

Reception qulon fait aux Francois dans la dcrniere des Bourgades qu’ils ont 
veues.—Lcs mceurs et famous de faire de ces sauvages.—Raisons pour ne pas 
passer outre. 

Nous embarquames le lendemain de grand matin avec nostre in- 
terprette ; un canot ou estoient dix sauvages alloit un peu devant 
nous, estant arrives a une demie lieue des Akamsea, nous vismes pa¬ 
roistre deux canotz qui venoient au devant de nous ; celuy qui y com- 
mandoit estoit debout tenant en main le calumet avec lequel il faisoit 
plusieurs gestes scion le coustume du pays, il vint nous joindre en 
chantant assez agreablement et nous donna a Turner, apres quoy il 
nous presenta de la sagamite et du pain Tait de bled d’inde, dont nous 
mangeammes un peu, ensuitte il prit le devant nous ayant Tait signe 
de venir doucement apres luy ; on nous avoit prepare une place sous 
l’eschaffault du cheT des guerriers. elle estoit propre et tapissee de 
belles nattes de jonc, sur lesquelles on nous fit asseoir, ayant. autour 
de nous les anciens, qui estoient plus procbes, apres les guerriers et 
enfin tout le peuple en Toule. Nous trouv&ines l’a par bonbeur un 



DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


255 


jeune homme qui entendoit l’llinois beaucoup mieux que I’lnterprette 
que nous avions amene de Mitchigamea, ce fut par son moyen que je 
parlay d’abord a toute cette assemblee par les presens ordinaires ; ils 
admiroient ce que je leur disois de Dieu et des mysteres de nostre 
Ste foy, ils faisoient paroistre un grand desir de me retenir avec eux 
pour les pouvoir instruire. 

Nous leurs demandames ensuitte ce qu’ils scavoient de la mer; 
ils nous repondirent que nous n’en estions qu’a dix journees, nous 
aurions pit faire ce chemin en 5 jours, qu’ils ne connoissoient pas les 
nations qui l’habitoient a cause que leurs ennemys les empechoient 
d’avoir commerce avec ces Europeans, que les haches, cousteaux, et 
rassade que nous voions leur estoient vendues en partie par des na¬ 
tions de l’Est et en partie par une bourgade d’llinois placee a l’oiiest 
a quattre journees de la, que ces sauvages que nous avons rencontres 
qui avoient des fusils estoient leurs ennemys, lesquels leur fermoient 
le passage de la mer et les empechoient d’avoir connoissance des 
Europeans et d’avoir avec eux aucun commerce ; qu’au reste nous 
nous exposions beaucoup de passer plus oultre a cause des courses 
continuelles que leurs ennemys font sur la riviere, qui ayant des fusils 
et estant fort agguerris, nous ne pouvions pas sans un danger evident 
avancer sur cette riviere qu’ils occupent continuellement. 

Pendant cet entretien on nous apportoit continuellement a. manger 
dans de grands platz de bois, tantost de la sagamite, tantost du bled 
entier, tantost d’un morceau de chien, toute la journee se passa en 
festins. 

Ces peuples sont assez officieux et liberaux de ce qu’ils ont, mais 
ils sont miserables pour le vivre, nosant aller a la chasse des bceufs 
sauvages a cause de leurs ennemys, ils est vray qu’ils ont le bled 
d’inde en abondance, qu’ils sement en toute saison, nous en visme 
en mesme temps qui estoit en rnaturite, d’autre qui ne faisoit que 
pousser et d’autre qui estoit en laict, de sorte qu’ils sement trois fois 
l’an. Ils le font cuire dans de grands potz de terre qui sont fort bien 
faits ; ils ont aussi des assietes de terres cuitte dontz ils se servent 
a divers usages. Les homines vont nuds, portent les cheveux 
courtz, ont le nez perce d’ou pend de la rassade aussi bien que de 
leurs oreilles. Les femmes sont vestues de mesehantes peaux, 
noiient leurs cheveux en deux tresses, qu’elles jettent derriere les 
oreilles, et n’ont aucune rarete pour se parer. Leurs festins se font 
sans aucune ceremonie, ils presentent aux invitez de grands platz 
dontz chascun mange a discretion, et se donnent les restes les uns 


256 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


aux aultres. Leur langue est extremement difficile et je ne pouvois 
venir about d’en prononcer quelques motz, quelque effort que je 
pusse faire. Leurs cabanes qui sont faittes d’escorce, soot longues 
et larges, ils couchent aux deux bouts elevez do deux pieds de terre, 
ils y gardent leur bled dans de grands panniers faits de Cannes, ou 
dans des gourdes grosses comme des demy bariques. Ils ne scavent 
ce que c’est que le castor, leurs richesses consistent en peaux de 
boeufs sauvages, ils ne voient jamais de neige chez eux et ne con- 
noissent. l’hyver que par les pluyes qui y tombent plus souvent qu’en 
este; nous n’y avons pas mange de fruictz que des melons d’eau. 
S’ils scavoient cultiver leur terre ils en auroient de toutes les sortes. 

Le soir les anciens firent un conseil secret dans le dessein que 
quelque’uns avoient de nous casser la teste pour nous piller, mais 
le chef rompit toutes ces menees. Nous ayant envoye querir, pour 
marque de parfaitte assurance, il dansa le calumet devant nous, de 
la fa^on, que jay descript cy dessus, et pour nous oster toute crainte, 
il m’en fit present. 

Nous fismes M. Jolliet et moy un aultre conseil, pour deliberer sur 
ce que nous avions a faire, si nous pousserions oultre o’u si nous nous 
contenterions de la decouverte que nous avions faite. Apres avoir 
attentivement considere que nous n’estions pas loing du golphe 
mexique, dont le bassin estant a la haulteur de 31 degrez 60 minutes 
(sic), et nous nous trouvant a 33 degrez 40 minutes nous ne pouvions 
pas en estre eloignes plus de 2 ou 3 journees, qui indubitablement la 
riviere Missisipi avoit sa decharge dans la floride ou golphe Mex¬ 
ique, n’on pas du coste de Test dans la Yirginie, dont le bord de la 
mer est a 34 degrez que nous avons passez sans neamoins estre encor 
arrives a la mer; non pas aussi du coste de l’oiiest a la Californie, 
parceque nous devions pour cela avoir nostre route a l’oiiest ou a 
1’oiiest soroiiest et nous l’avons tousjour en au sud. Nous consider- 
ames de plus que nous nous exposions a perdre le fruict de ce voyage 
duquel nous ne pourrions pas dormer aucune connoissance, si nous 
allions nous jetter entre les mains des Espagnols qui sans doubte nous 
auroient du moins retenus captifs. En oultre nous voyions bien que 
nous n’estions pas en estat de resister a des sauvages allies des Euro¬ 
peans, nombreux et expertz a tirer du fusil qui infestoient continuel- 
ment le bas de cette riviere. Enfin nous avions pris toutes les con- 
noissances qu’on peut souhaiter dans cette decouverte. Toutes ces 
raisons firent conclure pour le retour, que nous declarames aux sau¬ 
vages et pour lequel nous nous preparames apres un jour de repos. 


V 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 257 


SECTION X. 

Rctour du Pere et dcs Francois.—Bapteme d'un enfant moribond. 

Apres un mois de navigation en descendant sur Missisipi depuis 
le 42 d degre jusqu’au 34 e et plus, et apres avoir publie PEvangile, 
autant que j’ay pu, aux nations que j’ay rencontrees nous partons.le 
17 e Juillet du village des Akensea pour retourner sur nos pas. 
Nous remontons done a Missisipi qui nous donne bien de la peine a 
refouler ses courans, il est vray que nous le quittons vers les 38e 
degre pour entrer dans une aultre riviere qui nous abbrege de beau- 
coup le chemin et nous conduit avec peu de peine dans le lac des 
Ilinois. 

Nous n’avons rien veil de semblable a cette riviere ou nous entrons 
pour la bonte des terres, des prairies, des bois, des bceufs, des cerfs, 
des chevreux, des chatz sauvages, des outardes, de cygnes, des 
canards, des perroquetz et mesme des castors, il y a quantite de 
petitz lacs et de petites rivieres. Celle sur laquelle nous navigeons 
est large, profonde, paisible pendant 65 lieiies le primptemps et une 
partie de l’este, on ne fait de transport que pendant une demy lieiie. 
Nous y trouvames une bourgade d’llinois nomine Kaskaskia com- 
posee de 74 cabanes, ils nous y ont tres bien receus et m’ont oblige 
de leur promettre que je retournerois pour les instruire. Un de 
chefs de cette nation avec sa jeunesse nous est venu conduire ju- 
su’au lac des Ilinois, d’ou enfin nous nous sommes rendus dans la 
baye des Puantz sur la fin de Septembre, d’ou nous estions partes 
vers le commencement de Juin. 

Quand tout ce voyage n’auroit, cause que le salut d’une ame, j’es- 
timerois toutes mes peines bien recompensees, et e’est ce que j’ay 
sujet. de presumer, car lorsque je retournois nous passames par les 
Ilinois de Pe8area, je fus trois jours a publier la foy dans toutes 
leurs cabanes, apres quoy comme nous nous embarquions, on m’ap- 
porte au bord de l’eau un enfant moribond que je baptisay un peu 
avant qu’il mourut par une providence admirable pour le salut de 
cette ame innocente. 

17 


i 


UNFINISHED LETTER OF FATHER MARQUETTE 


TO FATHER CLAUDE DABLON, SUPERIOR OF THE MISSIONS, 

CONTAINING A 

JOURNAL OF HIS LAST VISIT TO THE ILINOIS. 


Mon Reverend Pere— 

Pax X 1 :— 

Ayant ete contraint de demeurer a St. Francois tout l’este a cause 
de quelque incommodite. En ayant este guery dez le mois de Sep- 
tembre j’y attendois l’arrivee de nos gens au retour de la bas pour 
sqavoir ce qu ie ferois pour mon hyvernement ; lesquels m’apporter- 
ent les ordres pour mon voyage a la mission de le Conception des 
Uinois. Ayant satisfait aux sentiments de V. R. pour les copies de 
mon iournal touchant la Riviere de Missisipi je partis avec Pierre 

Porteret et Jacque-, le 25 Oct., 1674, sur les midy le vent nous 

contraignit de coucher a la sortie de la riviere ou les P8te8atamis 
s’assembloient., les anciens n'ayant pas voulu qu’on allast du costez 
des Ilinois, de peur que la jeunesse amassant des robbes avec les 
marchandises qu’ils ont apportez de la bas, et chassant au castor ne 
voulut descendre le printemps qu’ils croient avoir suiet de craindre 
les Nad8essi. 

26 Oct. Passant au village nous n’y trouvasmes plus que deux 
cabannes qui partoient pour aller hyverner a la Gasparde, nous ap- 
prismes que 5 canots de P8te8atamis et 4 d’llinois estoient partis 
pour aller aux Kaskaskia. 

27. Nous fusmes arrestez le matin par la pluye, nous eusmes beau 
temps et calme l’apresdisnee que nous rencontrasmes dans l’ance a 
l’esturgeon les sauvages qui marchoient devant nous. 




DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


259 


28. On arrive an portage, un canot qui avoit pris le devant est 
cause (que) qu’on ne tue point de gibier; nous commen^ons notre 
portage et allons coucher de l’autre bord, ou le mauvais temps nous 
fist bien de la peine. Pierre n'arrive qu’a une heure de nuit s’es- 
garant par d’un sentier ou il n’avoit iamais este, apres la pluye et la 
tonnerre, il tombe de la neige. 

29. Ayant este contraint de changer de cabannage, on continue de 
porter les paquets, le portage a pres d’une lieiie et assez incommode 
en plusieurs endroits, les Ilinois s’estant assembles le soir dans notre 
cabanne demandent qu’on ne les quitte pas, comme nous pouvions 
avoir besoin d’eux et qu’ils connoissent mieux le lac que nous, on 
leur promet. 

30. Les femmes Ilinoises achevent le matin notre portage ; on est 
arreste par le vent, il n’y a point de bestes. 

31. On parte par un assez beau temps et l’on vieut coucher a une 
petite riviere. Le chemin de Pance a l’esturgeon par terre est tres 
difficile, nous n’en marchions pas loing l’automne passee, lorsque 
nous entrasmes dans le bois. 

Nov. 1. Ayant dit la Ste. Messe on vient coucher dans une riviere, 
d’ou l’on va aux P8te8atamis par un beau chemin. Chachag8essi8 
Ilinois fort considere parmy sa nation, a raison en partie qu’il se 
mesle des affaires de la traitte arrive la nuit avec un chevreux sur 
son dos, dont il nous fait part. 

2. La Ste. Messe dit, nous marchons toute la iournee par un fort 
beau temps, on tue deux chats qui n’ont quasi que de la graisse. 

3. Comme i’estois par terre marchant sur le beau sable tout le 
bordde l’eau estoit d’herbes semblables a celle qu’on pesche aux retz 
St. Ignace, mais ne pouvant passer une riviere, nos gens y entrent 
pour m’embarquer, mais on n’en put sorter a cause de la lame, tous 
les autres canots passent. a la reserve d’un seul qui vient avec nous. 

4. On est arreste. Ily a apparence qu’il y a quelque isle au large 
le gibier y passant le soir. 

5. Nous eusmes assez de peine de sorter de la riviere sur le 
midy’on trouva les sauvages dans une riviere, ou ie pris occasion 
d’instruire les Ilinois, a raison d’un festin que Na8asking8e venoit de 
faire a une peau de loup. 

6. On fist une belle iournee, les sauvages estant a la chasse de- 
couvrirent quelques pistes d’hommes ce qui oblige d arrester le len- 
demain. 

9. On mit a terre sur les 2 heures a cause d’un beau cabannage, 


260 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


on Ton fust arreste 5 iours, a cause de la grande agitation du lac 
sans aucun vent, ensuitte par la neige, qui fust le lendemain fondue 
par le soleil et un vent du large. 

15. Apres avoir fait assez de chemin on cabanne dans un bel en- 
droit ou l’on est arreste 3 iours Pierre raccommode le fusil d’un sau- 
vage, neige tombe la nuit et fonde le iour. 

20. On couche aux ecors assez mal cabannez les sauvages de- 
meurent derriere durant qu’on est arreste du vent 2 iours et demy 
Pierre allant dans le bois trouve la prairie a 20 lieiies du portage, il 
passe aussi sur un beau canal comme en voute, haut de la hauteur 
d’un homine, ou il y avoit un pied d’eau. 

23. Estant embarque sur le midy nous eusmes assez de peine de 
gagner une riviere, le froid commenga par Test et plus d’un pied de 
neige couvrit la terre qui est tousiours depuis demeure ou fust 
arreste la 3 iours durant lesquels Pierre tua un chevreux, 3 outardes, 
et 3 cocqs d’inde, qui estoient fort bons, les autres passerent iusques 
aux prairies, un sauvage ayant descouvert quelques cabannes nous 
vint trouver, Jacques y alia le lendemain avec luy, 2 chasseurs me 
vinrent aussi voir, c’estoient des Mask8tens au nombre de 8 ou 9 
cabannes, lesquelles s’estoient separez les uns des autres pour pou- 
voir vivre, avec des fatigues presque impossibles a des frangois ils 
marchent tout l’hyver, dans des chemins tres difficiles, les terres 
estant pleines de ruisseaux, de petits lacs et de marests, ils sent tres 
mal cabannez, et mangent ou ieusnent selon les lieux ou ils se ren- 
contrent; estant arrestez par le vent nous remarquasmes qu’il y 
avoit de grandes battures au large ou la lame brisoient continuelle- 
ment; ce fust la que ie sentis quelques atteintes d’un flux de ventre. 

27. Nous eusmes assez de peine de sortir de la riviere et. ayant 
fait environ 3 lieiies nous trouvasmes les sauvages qui avoient tuez 
des boeufs et 3 Ilinois qui estoient venu du village, nous fusmes ar¬ 
restez la d’un vent de terre, des lames prodigieuses qui venoient du 
large, et du froid. 

Decembre 1. On devance les sauvages pour pouvoir dire la Ste. 
Messe. 

3. Ayant dit. la Ste. Messe, estant embarque nous fusmes con- 
traint de gagner une pointe pour pouvoir mettre a terre a cause des 
bourguignons. 

4. Nous partismes heureusement pour venir a la riviere du portage 
}ui estoit gelee d’un demy pied, ou il y avoit plus de neige que par- 
tout ailleurs, comme aussi plus de pistes de bestes et de cocqs d’In- 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 2G1 

de. La navigation du lac est assez belle d’un portage a l’autre, 
n y ayant aucune traverse a faire et pouvant mettre a terre partout, 
moyennant qu’on ne soit point opiniastre a vonloir marcher dans les 
lames et de grand vent. Les terres qui le bordent ne valent rien, 
excepte quarid on est aux prairies, on trouve 8 ou 10 rivieres assez 
belles, la chasse du chevreux est tres belle a mesure qu’on s’esloigne 
des P8te8atamis. 

12. Comme on commenqoit hir a traisner pour approcher du 
portage les Ilinois ayant quittez les P8te8atamis arriverent avec 
bien de la peine. Nous ne pusmes dire la Ste. Messe le iour de la 
Conception a cause du mauvais temps et du froid, durant notre seiour 
a l’entree de la riviere Pierre et Jacques tuerent 3 boeufs et 4 chev¬ 
reux dont un courut assez loing ayant le cceur coupe en 2 on se con- 
tente de tuer 3 ou 4 cocqs d’inde de plusieurs qui venoient autour 
de notre cabanne, parcequ’ils mouroient quasi de faim ; Jacques ap- 
porta un perdrix qu’il avoit tuez, semblable en tout a celles de France, 
excepte qu’elle avoit comme deux aislerons de 3 ou 4 aisles longues 
d’un doigt proche de la teste, dont elles couvrent les 2 costez du col 
ou il n’y a point de plume. 

14. Estant cabannez proche le portage a 2 lieues dans la riviere 
nous resolusmes d’hyverner la, estant dans l’impossibilite de passer 
outre, estant trop embarasse, et mon incommodite ne me permettant 
pas de beaucoup fatiguer. Plusieurs Ilinois passerent hier pour aller 
porter leur pelleterie a Na8asking8e, ausquels on donne un boeufs et 
un chevreux que Jacque avoit tue le iour auparavant ie ne pense pas 
avoir veu de sauvage plus aflame de petun Franqois qu’eux, ils vin- 
rent ietter a nos pieds des castors pour en avoir quelque bout mais 
nour leur rendismes en leur en donnant quelque pipe, parceque nous 
n’avions pas encore conclu si nous passerions outre. 

15. Chachag8essi8 et les autres Ilinois nous quitterent pour aller 
trouver leur gens, et leur donner les marchandises qu’ils avoient ap- 
portez pour avoir leur robbes en quoy ils se gouvernent comme des 
traitteurset ne donnent guere plus que les Francis; ie les instruisis 
avant leur depart, remettant au printemps de tenir conseil quand ie 
serois au village ; ils nous traitterent 3 belles robbes de boeuf pour 
une coudee de petun, lesquelles, nous ont beaucoup servi cet hyver, 
estant ainsi desbarassez, nous dismes la Messe de la Conception; 
depuis le 14 mon incommodite se tourna en flux de sang. 

30. Jacque arriva du village des Ilinois qui n’estoit qua six lieues 
d’icy ou ils avoient faim le froid et la neige les empeschant de chas- 


262 


NARRATIVE OF FATTIER MARQUETTE. 


ser, quelques uns ayant adverti la Toupine et le chirurgien que nous 
estions icy et ne pouvant quitter leur cabanne avoient tellement don- 
nez la peur aux sauvages croyant que nous aurions faim demeurant 
icy que Jacque eust bien de la peine d’empescher 15 jeunes gens de 
venir pour emporter toute nostie affaire. 

Janvier 16, 1675. Aussitot que les 2 fran^ois sceurent que mon 
mal mempeschoit daller chez eux le chirurgien vint icy avec un 
sauvage pour nous apporter des bluets et du bled ; ils ne sont que 18 
lieiies d’icy dans un beau lieu de chasse, pour les bceufs et les chev- 
reux et les cocqs d’inde qui y sont excellent^, ills avoient aussi amas- 
sez des vivres en nous attendant; et avoient fait entendre aux sau¬ 
vages que leur cabanne estoit a la Robbe noire, et on peut dire qu’ils 
ont fait et dit tout ce qu’on peut attendre d’eux: le chirurgien ayant 
icy seiourne pour faire ses devotions: j’envoiay Jacque avec luy 
pour dire aux Ilinois qui estoient. proche de la., que mon incommodit© 
m’empeschoit de les aller voir et que iaurois mesme de la peine 
d’yaller le printemps si elle continuoit. 

24. Jacque retourna, avec un sac de bled et d’autres rafraichisse- 
ment que les Francis luy avoient donnez pour moy: il apporta 
aussi les langues et de la viande de deux bceufs qu’un sauvage et 
luy avoient tuez proche d’icy; mais toutes les bestes se sentent de 
mauvais temps. 

26. 3 Ilinois nous apporterent de la part des Anciens 2 sacs de 
bled, de la viande seche, des citrouilles et 12 castors, 1°, pour me 
faire une natte, 2°, pour me demander de la poudre, 3°, pour que nous 
n’eussions faim, 4°, pour avoir quelque peu de marchandises ; ie leur 
repondis l nt , que i’estois venu pour les instruire, en leur parlant de la 
priere, &c. 2 nt , que ie ne leur donnerois point de poudre, puisque 
nous taschions de mettre partout la paix, et que ie ne voulois qu’ils 
commen^assent la guerre avec les Miamis. 3 nt , que nous n’appre- 
hendions point le faim. 4 nt , que iencouragerois les fran^cois a leur 
apporter des marchandises, et qu’il falloit qu’ils satisfissent ceux qui 
estoient chez eux pour la rassade qu’on leur avoit pris, dez que le 
chirurgien fust party pour venir icy. Comme ils estoient venus de 
20 lieiis, pour les payer de leur peine et de ce qu’ils m’avoient ap- 
portez ie leur donnay une hache, 2 couteaux, 3 iambettes, 10 brasses 
de rassade et 2 mirouirs doubles, et leur disant qui ie tascherois d’al- 
ler au village seulement pour quelques iours si mon incommodite 
continuoit, ils me dirent de prendre courage de demeurer et de 
mourir daus leur pays et qu’on leur avoit dit que i’y resterois pour 
longtemps. 


DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 


263 


Fevrier 9. Depuis que nous nous sommes addresscz a la Ste. 
Vierge Immaculee que nous avons commencez une neufvaine par 
une messe a laquelle Pierre et Jacque qui font tout ce qu’ils peu- 
vent pour me soulager, ont communies pour demander a Dieu la 
sante, mon flux de sang m’a quitte, il ne me reste qu’un foiblesse d’es- 
tomac, ie commence a meporter beaucoup mieux et a reprendre mes 
forces: il ne cabanne d’llinois qui s’estoit rangee proche de nous 
depuis un mois une partie out repris le chemin des P8t et quelques 
uns sont encore au bord du lac ou ils attendent que la navigation 
soit libre, ils emportent des lettres pour nos P. P. de St. Francis. 

20. Nous avons eu le temps de remarquer les mareez qui vien- 
nent du lac lesquels haussent et baissent plusieurs fois par iour et 
quoyqu’il n’y paraisse aucune abry dans le lac, on a veu les glaces 
aller contre le vent, ces mareez nous rendoient l’eau bonne ou mau- 
vaisse parceque celle qui vient d’en hault coule des prairies et de 
petits ruisseaux, lestchevreux qui sont enquantite vers le bord du lac 
sont si maigres qu’on a este contraint d’en laisser quelques uns de 
ce qu’on avoit tuez. 

Mars 23. On tue plusieurs perdrix dont il n’y a que les mals qui 
ayant des aislerons au col, les femelles u’en ayant point, ces perdrix 
sont assez bonnes mais non pas comme celle de France. 

30. Le vent de nord ayant empesche le degeal jusques au 25 de 
Mars il commenga par un vent de sud, dez le lendemain le gibier 
commenqa de paroistre, on tua 30 tourtres que ie trouvay meilleures 
que celies de la bas, mais plus petites, tant les vieilles que les 
ieunes; le 28 les glaces se rompirent et s’arresterent au dessus de 
nous, le 29 les eaux crurent si fort que nous n’eusmes que le temps 
de descabanner au plutot, mettre nos affaires sur des arbres et 
tascher de chercher a coucher sur quelque but l’eau nous gagnant 
presque toute la nuit, mais ayant un peu gele et estant diminue com¬ 
me nous estions aupres de nos paquets, la digue vient de se rompre 
et les glaces a s’escouler et parceque les eaux remontent desia nous 
allons nous embarquer pour continuer notre route. 

La Ste. Vierge Immaculee a pris un tel soin de nous durant notre 
hyvernement que rien ne nous a mauque pour les vivres, ayant en¬ 
core un grand sac de bled de reste, de la viande et de la graisse; 
nous avons aussi vescu fort doucement, mon mal ne m’ayant point 
empesche de dire la Ste. Messe tous les iours; nous n’avons point 
pu garder du caresme que les Vendredys et samedys. 

31. Estant hier party nous fismes 3 lieiies dans la riviere en re- 


264 


NARRATIVE OF FATHER MARQUETTE. 


montant sans trouver aucun portage, on traisna peut estre environ 
un demy arpant outre cette descharge, la riviere en a une autre 
par ou nous debvons descendre. II n’y a que les terres bien hautes 
qui ne soient point inondeez, celle ou nous sommes a cru plus do 
12 pieds a-ce fut d’icy que nous commengasmes notre portage ily a 
18 mois; les outardes et les canards passent continuellement; on 
s’est contente de 7, les glaces qui derivent encore nous font icy 
demeureur ne sachant pas en quel estat est le bas de la riviere. 

Avril 1. Comme ie ne scais point encore si ie demeureray cet 
este au village ou non a cause de mon flux de ventre, nous laissons 
icy une partie de ce dont nous pouvons nous passer et surtout un sac 
de bled, tandis qu’un grand vent de sud nous arreste, nous esperons 
aller demain ou sont les Francis, distant de 15 lieues d’icy. 

6. Les grands vents et le froid nous empeschent de marcher. Les 
deux lacs par ou nous avons passez sont plains d’outardes, d’oyes, de 
canards, de grues et d’autres gibiers que nous ne connoissons point. 
Les rapides sont assez dangereux en quelques endroits, nous venons 
de rencontrer le chirurgien avec un sauvage qui montoit avec une 
canottee de pelleterie, mais le froid estant trop grand pour des per- 
sonnes qui sont obligez de traisner les canots dans l’eau, il vient de 
faire cache de son castor et retourne demain au village avec nous. 
Si les Frangois ont des robbes de ce pays icy, ils ne les desrob- 
bent pas tant les fatigues sont grands pour les en tirer. 


LA SALLE’S PATENT OF NOBILITY. 


(Paris Doc. in Secy’s. Office, Albany, vol. ii. pp. 8-11,) 

Donnees a Compeigne le 13 May, 1675. 

Louis, par la grace de Dieu Roy de France et de Navarre, a tous 
presens et a venir saint. Les Roys nos predecesseurs ayant tou- 
jours estime que l’honneur etait le plus puissant motif pour porter 
leurs sujets aux genereuses actions, ils ont pris soin de reconnaitre 
par des marques d’honneur ceux qu’une vertu extraordinaire en 
avait rendu dignes, et comme nous sommes informes des bonnes 
actions que font journellement les peuples de Canada, soit en reduis- 
ant ou disciplinant les sauvages, soit en se defendant contre leurs 
frequentes insultes, et celles de Iroquois et enfin en meprisant les 
plus grands perils pour etendre jusques au bout de ce nouveau 
monde, nostre nom et nostre empire, nous avons estime qu’il es- 
tait de nostre justice de distinguer par des recompences d’honneur 
ceux qui se sont le plus signalez pour exciter les autres a meriter de 
semblables graces, a ces causes, desirant traiter favorablement nos¬ 
tre cher et bien aime Robert Cavelier sieur de la Salle pour le bon et 
louable rapport qui nous a ete fait des bonnes actions qu’il a faite 
dans le pays de Canada ou il s’est estably depuis quelques annees et 
pour autres considerations a ce nous mouvans, et de notre grace 
speciale, pleine puissance, et autorite royale, nous avons annobly, et 
par ces presentes signees de nostre main annoblissons, et decorons 
du titre et qualite de noblesse le d. Sr. Cavalier, ensemble sa 
femme et enfans posterite et lignee tant males que femelles nes et a 
naitre en loyal mariage ; Youlons et nous plait qu’en tous actes tant 
en jugement que dehors ils soient tenus, censes et reputes nobles por- 
tant la qualite d’escuyer, et puissant parvenir a tous degres de chev- 
allerie et de gendarmerie, acquerir, tenir, et posseder toutes sortes de 


266 


LA SALLE’S PATENT OF NOBILITY. 


fiefs et seigneuries et heritages nobles de quelque titre et qualite 
qu’ils soient, et qu’ils jouissent de tous honneurs, autorites, prerog¬ 
atives, preeminences, privileges, franchises, exemptions et immu- 
nites, dont jouissent et ont accoutume de jouir et user les autres 
nobles de nostre Royaume et de porter telles armes qu’elles sont cy 
empraintes, sans ce que pour ce le dit Robert Cavelier soit tenu nous 
payer, ny a nos successeurs Roys, aucune finance ni indemnite, dont 
a quelque somme qu’elles se puissent monter, nous l’avons decharge, 
et dechargeons et lui avons fait et faisons don par cesdites presentes, 
le tout par les causes et raisons portees en l’arrest de notre concil de 
cejourdhui donne nous y etant dont copie demeurera cy attachee 
sous le contreseil de nostre chancellerie. Si donnouns en mande- 
ment a nos aimes et feaux con er8 les gens tenants nostre cour de 
parlement de Paris, chambre des comptes, cour des aydes au dit lieu 
que ces presentes lettres d’ annoblissement ils ayent a registrer, et 
du contenu en icelles faire soufifrir et laisser jouir et user le dit Robert 
Cavelier, ses Enfans et posterite nes et a naitre en loyal mariage, 
pleinement, paisiblement et perpetuellement, cessant et faisant cesser 
tous troubles et empeschemens nonobstant tous Edits et declarations, 
arrests, reglemens, et autres choses a ce contraries, aux quels nous 
avons deroge et derogons par ces presente car tel est notre plaisir. 
Et afin que ce soit chose ferme stable et a toujours, nous y avons 
fait mettre nostre sc6l. Donne a compeigne le 13 May, Pan de 
grace mil six cens soixante quinze, et de nostre regne le trente- 
troisieme. 


LA SALLEB PATENT OF NOBILITY. 


267 


LA SALLE’S SECOND COMMISSION. 

(Same vol., p. Tl 5.) 


A Versailles, le 14 Avril, 1684. 

Louis, par la grace de Dieu Roy de France et de Nauarre, Salut. 
Ayant resolu de faire quelques entreprises dans l’Amerique Septen- 
trionale pour assujetir sons nostre domination plusieurs nations 
sauvages, et leur porter les lumieres de la foy et de l’evangile, nous 
avons cru que nous ne pouvions faire un meilleur choix que du sieur 
de la Salle, pour commander en nostre nom tous les Fran^ais et 
sauvages qu’il employera pour l’execution des ordres dont nous 
1’avons charge. A ces causes, et autres a ce nous mouvans, et etant 
d’ailleurs bien informez de son affection et de sa fidelite a nostre 
service, Nous avons le d. Sr. de la Salle commis et ordonne, com- 
mettons et ordonnons par ces presentes signees de nostre main, pour 
sous nostre autorite commander tant dans les pays qui seront assu- 
jettis de nouveau sous nostre domination dans l’Amerique Septen- 
trionale, depuis le fort St. Louis sur la Riviere des Illinois jusques & 
la Nouvelle Biscaye, qu’aux Francois et sauvages qu’il employera 
dans les entreprises dont nous 1’avons charge, les faire vivre en 
union et concorde les uns avec les autres, contenir les gens de 
guerre en bon ordre et police, suivant nos Reglement, etablir des 
Gouverneurs et commandans par ers dans les lieux qu’il jugera a pro- 
pos, jusques a cesqu’ autrement par nous en ait ete ordonne, main- 
tenir le commerce et traffic, generalement faire et exercer tout ce qui 
pourra etre du fait de commandant pour nous esd. pays, et en jouir 
aux pouvoirs, honneurs, autorites, libertes, prerogatives preemin¬ 
ences, franchises, libertes, gages, droits, Unites, proffits, revenues, et 
emolumens, tant qu’il nous plaira. 

De ce faire vous avons donne et donnons pouvoir par ces d. pre¬ 
sentes par lesquelles mandons a tous nos d. sujets et gens de guerre 
de vous reconnoistre, obeir, et entendre en choses concernant le pre¬ 
sent pouvoir. Car tel est nostre plaisir. 

En temoin dequoi nous avons fait mettre nostre seel secret a ces 
d. presentes. Donnees a Versailles, le 14 Avril, 1684. 


COMPARATIVE TABLE 


Of the Names on the Map published by Thevenot, as Mar¬ 
quette's , and on his Beal Map annexed . 


Thevenot. 

Marquette. 

Usual Form. 

Mouingwena 

Moingwena 

Moingonan 

Pe-wanea 

Pe-warea 

Pe-oria 

Tillini-wek 

Ilinois 

Alliniwek and Illinois 

Missi-ousing 

Miscousing * 

Wisconsin 

Cach-ouach-wia 

Kachkaskia 

Kaskaskia 

Manoutensac 

Maskoutens 


Kamissi 

Kanza 


Autrechaha 

Ouchage 

Osage 

Ou-missouri 

We-messouret 

Missouri 

Ahiahichi 

Aiaichi 

Ayiches 

Tamisa 

Tanik-wa 

Tonica 

Matoua 

Matora 


Ototchassi 

Atotchasi 

Southouis 

Monsouperea 

Monsoupelea 


Wabouquigou 

Wabous-quigou 

Wabash 

Kakinouba 

Kakinonba 

? Kanawha 

The following 

names are on Marquette alone : — 

Pahoutet 

Maha 

• 

Omaha 

Pana 

Otontanta 

Anthoutanta (Le 

Clercq) 

Akoroa 

Koroa 


Papikaha 


? Quapaw 

Apistonga 

Maroa 


Tamaroa 


The following are on Thevenot alone : — 

Kithigami, Minonk, Aganahali, Wabunghiharea, Taharea. 

It will be observed that on the real map the part of Michigan then 
unexplored, is dotted only, and that the Mississippi descends only 
to Akansea, the limit of his discovery. 


Ost-j 


J 



FAC SIMILE 

o/the -Autograph ■>/'///r 

MISSISSIPPI 

OR 

(sonceplioa 0Uoer, 

DRAWN BY 

RATHER MARQUETTE 

at the time oF his voyauje. 

•ovi the Original preserved at St. Mary's College 
MONTREAL . 


cKenuii 

Cl lia I ,jcYf (L. 


iTfiOfSMONY * MAJOR, fit* YORK 


o 

£ 




JH 


pahetet 


m 

PAN A 


A\ 

H AHA 


Ai 

oiorrraNTA 


yju 

MoiNaXCivi 


X3 


An. 

ScMCJJSRijP 


All 

?amlasja nn 

KANJA 


2 

o 

2 


m 

f-* 
o 
r* • 

C\ 

? 

fa 

I""*-! 


All 

pToTC HASl 


a 

> 


m 

MATOJIA. 

jn 


t»3 

£a 

r»3 

c 


AKonOA 

. Al 

PAPJKAHA. 

JtL 

mAMtf£TjA 


tin. 

'PANlASSs 



p 

%cAe\ 6 .E 


TAJIKS'A 
. m-. 
A 1 AJCH 1 


RASSlU DE l.a ftoRJDE 


FL 0 R 1 DE 


















































im\z oai 

^vv\\ \v> \\\>M . s\vy Y\\><y\vA v ^sVV \v> 

miaaiaaiM 




-m j'AXi**-! 


jmifc not hpjftoi) 

^9?vK^ N\ 

. xaA ao 9k\\^ *A\ Vo 

\\<Al ?!\;\V^ : $ YMm¥&A<\Vfcttt^VV^%& sw 
• . AfvWWOH 


















J. S. REDFIELD, 


CLINTON HALL NEW YORK, 


HAS JUST PUBLISHED: 



EPISODES OF INSECT LIFE. 


By Acheta Domf.stica. In Three Series: I. Insects of Spring.—II. Insects 
of Summer.—III. Insects of Autumn. Beautifully illustrated. Crown 8vo., 
cloth, gilt, price $2.00 each. The same beautifully colored after nature, extra 
gilt, $4.00 each. 

“A book elegant enough for the centre-table, witty enough for after dinner, and wise enough for 
the 6tudy and the school-room. One of the beautiful lessons of this work is the kindly view it takes 
of nature. Nothing is made in vain not only, but nothing is made ugly or repulsive. A charm is 
thrown around every object, and life sufi'used through all, suggestive of the Creator’s goodness and 
wisdom.”— N. Y. Evangelist. 

“ Moths, glow-worms, lady birds. May-flies, bees, and a variety of other inhabitants of the insect 
world, are descanted upon in a pleasing style, combining scientific inlormation with romance, in a 
manner peculiarly attractive .”—Commercial Advertiser. 

“The book includes solid instruction as well as genial and captivating mirth. The scientific knowl¬ 
edge of the writer is thoroughly reliable.”— Examiner. 

“We have in this work, deep philosophy, and an endless flow of humor, and lessons set before us, 
drawn from ants, beetles, and butterflies, which we might do well to ponder. We can think of noth¬ 
ing more calculated to delight the passing hour, than the beautiful delineations we find in these three 
volumes.”— Christian Intelligencer. 



MEN AND WOMEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 

By Arsene Houssaye, with beautifully Engraved Portraits of Louis XV., 
and Madame de Pompadour. Two volumes, 12mo., 450 pages each, extra 
superfine paper, price $2.50. 

Contents. —Dufresny, Fontenelle, Marivaux. Piron, The Abbg Prevost, Gentil-Bernard, Florian, 
Boufllers, Diderot, Gr£try, Riverol, Louis XV., Greuze, Boucher, The Vanloos, Lantara, Watteau, 
La Motte, Dehle, Abb<5 Trublet, Buffon, Dorat, Cardinal de Bernis, Crebillon the Gay. Marie An* 
toinette, Made, de Pompadour, Vade, Mile. Camargo, Mile. Clairon, Mad. de la Popelinigre, Sophie 
Arnould, Crebillon the Tragic, Mile. Guimard, Three Pages in the Life of Dancourt, A Promenade 
in the Palais-Royal, the Chevalier de la Clos. 

“A more fascinating book than this rarely issues rom the teeming press. Fascinating in its subject; 
fascinating in its style; fascinating in its power to lead the reader into castle-building of the most gor¬ 
geous and bewitching description .”—Courier <V Enquirer. 

“We have spent some delightful hours in the reading of thc«e interesting volumes. The hiogra 
phies of the celebrated personages included in this work are written in a peculiarly pleasant and at¬ 
tractive style. The author has 'transferred, with a familiar power of composition, the living charac¬ 
ter of his subjects to his pages ”—Louisville Journal 

“It presents by far the best portrait of the prominent figures ol the age to which it refers, that we 
know of in the English language."— Evening Post. 

“We think indeed, that w- hav-> never met with anything flat carries us so entirely inn ••‘he in¬ 
terior lite of French society in that ag n."—Album, 



2 


redfield’s new and popular publications. 


POETICAL WORKS OF FITZ-GREENK HALLECK. 

New and only Complete Edition, containing several New Poems, together 
with many now first collected. One vol., 12mo., price one dollar. 

“Halleck is one of the brightest stars in our American literature, and his name is like a house¬ 
hold word wherever the English language is spoken .”—Albany Express. 

“ To the numerous admirers of Mr. Halleck, this will be a welcome book ; for it is a characteristic 
desire in human nature to have the productions of our favorite authors in an elegant and substantial 
form .”—Christian Freeman 

“ Mr. Halleck never appeared in a neater dress, and few poets ever deserved a better one.”— Chris¬ 
tian Intelligencer. 

“There are few poems to be found, in any language, that surpass, in beauty of thought and 
structure, some of these .”—Boston Commonwealth. 



LILLIAN , AND OTHER POEMS. 

By Winthrop Mackworth Praed. Now first Collected. One Vol., 12mo. 
Price One Dollar. 

“ A timely publication is this volume. A more charming companion (in the shape of a book) can 
scarcely be found for the summer holydays.”— New York Tribune. 

“ They are amusing sketches, gay and sprightly in their character, exhibiting great facility of com¬ 
position, and considerable powers of satire.”— Hartford Courant. 

“ There is a brilliant play of fancy in ‘Lillian,’ and a moving tenderness in ‘ Josephine,’ for which it 
would be hard to find equals. We welcome this first collected edition of his works.”— Albany Express. 

“ As a writer of vers de societe he is pronounced to be without an equal among English authors.”— 
Syracuse Daily Journal. 

“ The author of this volume was one of the most fluent and versatile English poets that have shone in 
the literary world within the last century. His versification is astonishingly easy and airy, and his 
imagery not less wonderfully graceful and aerial.”— Albany State Register. 


LAYS OF THE SCOTTISH CAVALIERS. 

By William E. Aytoun, Professor of Literature and Belles-Lettres in the 

University of Edinburgh, and Editor of Blackwood's Magazine. One vol., 

12mo., price one dollar. 

“Since Lockhart and Macauley’s ballads, we have had no metrical work to be conpared in spirit, 
vigor, and rhythm with this. These ballads imbody and embalm the chief historical incidents of Scot¬ 
tish history—literally in ‘thoushts that breathe and words that burn.’ They are full of lyric energy 
graphic description, and genuine feeling :”—Home Journal. 

“The fine ballad of ‘ Montrose’ in this collection is alone worth the price of the book.”—Boston 
Transcript. 

“ These strains belong to stirring and pathetic events, and until poetic descriptions of them shall be 
disregarded, we think Mr. Aytoun’s productions well calculated to maintain a favorite place in public 
estimation .”—Literary Gazette. 

“ Chosen from the ample range of Scottish history, clear in feeling, simple and direct in expression, 
and happily varied and variable in measure, they will, we are confident, outlive many, if not all, of 
his more pretensious and ornamented contemporaries .”—Literary World. 



THE BOOK OF BALLADS. 

By Bon Gaultier. One volume, 12mo., price, seventy-five cents. 

“Here is a book for everybody' who loves classic fun. It is male up of ballads of all sorts, each a 
capital parody upon the style of some one of the best lyric writers of the time from the thundering 
versification of Lockhart and Macaulay to the sweetest and simplest strains of Wordsworth and Tenny¬ 
son. The author is one of the first scholars, and one of the most finished writers of the day, and this 
production is but the frolic of his genius in play-time .”—Courier Enquirer. 

“ We do not kuow to whom belongs this non de. plume, but he is certainly a humorist of no common 
power .”—Providence Journal. 

“ Bon Gaultier’s Book of Ballads, is simply the wittiest and best thing of the kind since the Rejected 
Addresses. Its parodies of Lockhart (in the Sparrsh Ballad-), o! Tennyson (his lovely sing-song puer¬ 
ilities), of Macaulay (the sounding Itonmn strain), of Mo-e- (the 'putt poetical’), are with a dozen oth¬ 
ers, in various ways, any of them equal to the famous Crahbe, and Scott, and Coleridge ot the re¬ 
ascending Drury-Lane .”—Literary World. 



redfield s new and popular publications. 


3 


LYRA, AND OTHER POEMS. 

By Alice Carey. In one volume, 12mo, cloth, price 75 cts. 

“ Whether poetry he defined as the rhythmical creation ot beauty, as passion or eloquence in har¬ 
monious numbers, or as thought and feeling manifested by processes of the imagination, Alice Carey 
is incontestably and incomparably the first living American poetess-fresh indigenous national—rich 
beyond precedent in suitably and sensuous imagery—of the finest and highest qualities of feeling and 
such powers ot creation as the Almighty has seen fit to bestow but rarely or in far-separated coun¬ 
tries .”—Boston Transcript. 1 

* inspiration ot poetic feeling, . . . replete with tenderness and beauty, earnestness and 

truthful simplicity, and all the attributes of a powerful imagination and vivid fancy. We know of no 
superior to Miss Carey among the female authors of this country.”—# Y. Journal of Commerce. 

“Alice Carey 8 book is full ot beautiful thoughts: there is draught after draught of pure pleasure 
for the lover ot sweet, tender fancies, and imagery which captivates while it enforces truth "—New 
York Courier and Inquirer. 

“ ‘ Lyra and other Poems,’ just published by Redfield, attracts everywhere, a remarkable degree of 
attention. A dozen of the leading journals, and many eminent critics, have pronounced the authoress 
the greatest poetess living .”—New York Mirror. 



CLOVERNOOK; 

Or, Recollections of our Neighborhood in the West. By Alice Carey. Illus¬ 
trated by Darley. One vol., 12mo, price $1.00. (Fourth edition.) 

“In this volume there is a freshness which perpetually charms the reader. You seem to be made 
free of western homes at once.”— Old Colony Memorial. 

“ They bear the true stamp of genius—simple natural, truthful—and evince a keen sense of the hu 
mor and pathos, of the comedy and tragedy, of life in the country.”— J G. Whittier. 

“ Alice Carey has perhaps the strongest imagination among the women of this country. Her wri 
tings will live longer than those of any other woman among us.”— American Whig Review. 

“ Miss Carey’s sketches are remarkably fresh and exquisite in delicacy, humor, and pathos. She is 
booked for immortality.”— Home Journal. 

& 

DREAM-LAND BY DAY-LIGHT. 

A Panorama of Romance. By Caroline Chesebro’. Illustrated by Darley. 
One vol., 12mo., price $1.25. (Second edition.) 

“We find in this volume unmistakeable evidences of originality of mind, an almost superfluous 
depth of reflection for the department of composition to which it is devoted, a rare facility in seizing 
the multiform a-pects of nature, and a still rarer power of giving them the form and hue of imagina¬ 
tion, without destroying their identity.”— Harper's Magazine. 

“ These simple and beautiful stories are all highly endued with an exquisite perception of natural 
beauty, with which is combined an appreciative sense of its relation to the highest moral emotions.”— 
Albany State Register. 

“ Gladly do we greet this floweret in the field of our literature, for it is fragrant with sweet and 
bright with hues that mark it to be of Heaven’s own planting.”— Courier and Enquirer. 

“ There is a depth of sentiment and feeling not ordinarily met with, and some of the noblest facul¬ 
ties and affections of man’s nature are depicted and illustrated by the skilful pen of the authoress.”— 
Churchman. 




ISA , A PILGRIMAGE. 

By Caroline Chesebro’. One volume, 12mo, price, $1.00. Second edition. 

“ The Pilgrimage is fraught throughout with scenes of thrilling interest—romantic, yet possessing a 
naturalness "that eeems to stamp them as real; the style is flowing and easy, chaste and beautiful.”— 
Troy Daily Times. 

“Miss Chesebro’ is evidently a thinker —she skims not the mere surface of life, but plunges boldly 
into the hidden mysteries of the spirit, by which she is warranted in making her startling revelations 
of human passion.”— Christian Freeman. 

“There comes out in this book the evidence of an inventive mind, a cultivated taste, an exquisite 
sensibility, and a deep knowledge of human nature .”—Albany Argus. 

“There is no one who will doubt that this is a courageous and ablework, displaying genius and depth 
of feeling, and striking at a high and noble aim.”— N. Y Evangelist. _ 

“ There is a fine vein of tenderness running through the story, which is peculiarly one of passion 
and sentiment.’’— Arthur's Home Gazette. 




4 


redfield’s new and popular publications. 


LADIES OF THE COVENANT: 

Memoirs of Distinguished Scottish Female Characters, embracing the Period of 
the Covenant and the Persecution. By Rev. James Anderson. One vol., 
12mo, price $1.25. 

“ It is written with great spirit and a hearty sympathy, and abounds in incidents of more than a ro¬ 
mantic interest, while the type of piety it discloses is the noblest and most elevated.”— N. Y. Evangelist. 

“ It is a record which, while it confers honor on the sex, will elevate the heart, and strengthen it to 
the better performances of every duty.”— Religious Herald. (Pa.) 

“ It is a book of great attractiveness, having not only the freshness of novelty, but every element of 
historical interest.”— Courier if Enquirer. 

“ The author delineates with great fidelity the struggles and sufferings of the noble female worthies 
of Scotland in the cause of civil and religious liberty. It is refreshing to read these actual and heroic 
lives of Christian women in both the higher and lower walks of life.”— Prairie Herald. 



CHARACTERS IN THE GOSPEL , 

Illustrating Phases of Character at the Present Day. By Rev. E. H. Chapin, 
One vol., 12mo., price 50 cents. (Second edition.) 

“As we read his pages, the reformer, the sensualist, the skeptic, the man of the world, the seeker, 
the sister of charity and of faith, stand out from the Scriptures, and join themselves with our own liv¬ 
ing world.”— Christian Enquirer. 

“Mr. Chapin has an easy, graceful style, neatly touching the outlines of his pictures, and giving great 
consistency and beauty to the whole. The reader will find admirable descriptions, some most whole¬ 
some lessons, and a fine spirit."— New York Evangelist. 

“ The work is done with a skilful hand, and in a style attractive and impressive. The book furnishes 
not only agreeable, but very useful and instructive reading.”— Boston Traveller. 

“We commend this volume to those who imagine that the teachings of the pulpit are nothing if not 
dull. Its brilliant vivacity of style forms an admirable combination with its soundness of thought and 
depth of feeling.”— Tribune. 



LECTURES AND MISCELLANIES. 

By Henry James. One vol., 12mo., cloth, price $1.25. 

“ A series of essays by one of the most generous thinkers and sincere lovers of truth in the country. 
He looks at society from an independent point of view, and with the noblest and most intelligent sym¬ 
pathy.”— Home Journal. 

“This is the production of a mind richly endowed of a very peculiar mould. All will concede 
to him the merit of a vigorous and brilliant intellect.”— Albany Argus. 

“A perusal of the essays leads us to think, not merely because of the ideas which they contain, 
but more because the ideas are earnestly put forth, and the subjects discussed are interesting and 
important to every one.”— Worcester National Mg is. 

“They have attracted much attention both here and in Europe, where the author is considered as 
holding a distinctive and prominent position in the school of modern philosophy.”— Albany Atlas. 

“ The writer wields a masterly and accurate pen, and his style is good.”— Boston Olive Branch. 

“ It will have many readers, and almost as many admirers.”— N. Y. Times. 



THE STUDY OF WORDS. 

By Archdeacon Richard C. Trench. One vol., 12mo., price 75 cts. 

“ He discourses in a truly learned and lively manner upon the original unity of language, and the 

origin, derivation, and history of words, with their morality and separate spheres of meaning.”_ 

Evening Post. 

“ This is a noble tribute to the divine faculty of speech. Populnrly written, exact in its learning, 
and poetic in its vision it is a book at once for the scholar and the general reader.”— N. Y. Evangelist. 

“It is one of the most striking and original publications of the dav, with nothing of hardness, dull¬ 
ness, or dryness about it, but altogether fresh, lively, and entertaining”— Boston Evening Traveller. 

“This volume will be found exceedingly u-efnl. not alone for what it teaches, hut as a stimulus to 

thought and stu lv. and opening wide asuir-jerive field for nleasing and beneficial investigation.”_ 

Troy Daily Times 



redfield’s new and popular publications. 


5 


THE WORKS OF EDGAR ALLAN POE. 




TALES AND TRADITIONS OF HUNGARY. 

By Theresa Pulszky, with a Portrait of the Author. One vol., price $1.25 . 

The above contains, in addition to the English publication, a new Preface, and Tales, now first 
printed from the manuscript of the Author, who has a direct interest in the publication. 




THE CAVALIERS OF ENGLAND; 

Or, the Times of the Revolutions of 1642 and 1688. By Henry William 
Herbert. One vol., 12mo, price $1.25. 

“ They are graphic stories, and in the highest degree attractive to the imagination as well as instinc¬ 
tive, and can not fail to be popular.”— Commercial. 

“ These tales are written in the popular author’s best style, and give us a vivid and thrilling idea of 
the customs and influences of the chivalrous age.”— Christian Freeman. 

“ Hi* 5 narrative is always full of great interest; his descriptive powers are of an uncommon order ; 
the romance of history loses nothing at his hands; he paints with the power, vigor, and ettect of a 
master.” —The Times. 

“ They bring the past days of old England vividly before the reader, and impress upon the mind with 
indelible force, the living images of the puritans as well as the cavaliers, whose earnest character and 
noble deeds lend such a lively interest to the legends of the times in which they lived and fought, lovtd 
and hated, prayed and revelled.”— Newark Daily. 



TLIE KNIGHTS OF ENGLAND , FRANCE, AND SCOTLAND. 

By Henry William Herbert. One vol., 12mo, price $1.25. 


“ They are partly the romance of history and partly fiction, forming, when blended, portraitures 
valuable from the correct drawing of the times they illustrate, and interesting from their romance.”— 
Albany Knickerbocker. 

“ They are spirit-stirring productions, which will be read and admired by all who are pleased with 
historical tales written in a vigorous, bold, and dashing style.”— Boston Journal. 

“ These legends of love and chivalry contain some of the finest tales which the graphic and 
powerful pen of Herbert has yet given to the lighter literature of the day.”— Detroit Free Press. 

“Mr. Herbert has a quick and accurate eye for the picturesque features of the romantic past. He 
pursues the study of history with the soul of the poet, and skilfully availing himself of the most strik¬ 
ing traditions and incidents, has produced a series of fascinating portraitures. Whoever would obtain 
a vivid idea of the social and domestic traits of France and Great Britain in the olden time, should not 
fail to read the life-life descriptions of this volume.”— Harper's Magazine. 




6 


redfield’s new and popular publications. 


NAPIER'S PENINSULAR WAR. 

History of the War in the Peninsula, and in the South of France, from the 
Year 1807 to 1814. By W. F. P. Napier, C.B., Col. 43d Reg., &c. Com¬ 
plete in one vol., 8vo, price $3.00. 

“ Napier’s history is regarded by the critics as one of the best narratives that has recently been 
written. His style is direct, forcible, and impetuous, carrying the reader along often in spite of him¬ 
self. through scenes of the most stirring interest and adventures full of excitement.’’— Evening Mirror. 

“ The Literature of War has not received a more valuable augmentation thiscentury than Co). Napier’s 
justly celebrated work. Though a gallant combatant in the field, he is an impartial historian.’’— Tribune. 

“Napier’s History, in addition to its superior literary merits, and truthful fidelity, presents strong 
claims upon the attention of all American citizens ; because the author is a large-souled philanthropist 
and an inflexible enemy to ecclesiastical tyranny and secular despots.”— Post. 

“ The excellency of Napier’s History results from the writer’s happy talent for impetuous, straight¬ 
forward. soul stirring narrative and picturing forth of characters. The military manoeuvre, march, 
and fiery onset, the whole whirlwind vicissitudes of the desperate fight, he describes with dramatic 
force.”— Merchants' Magazine. 



GRISCOM ON VENTILATION. 

The Uses and Abuses of Air: showing its Influence in Sustaining Life, and Pro¬ 
ducing Disease, with Remarks on the Ventilation of Houses, and the best 
Methods of Securing a Pure and Wholesome Atmosphere inside of Dwellings, 
Churches, Shops, &c. By John H. Griscom, M. D. One vol. 12mo, $1.00. 

“ This comprehensive treatise should be read by all who wish to secure health, and especially by 
those constructing churches, lecture-rooms, school-houses, &c.—It is undoubted, that many diseases 
are created and spread in consequence of the little attention paid to proper ventilation. Dr. G. writes 
knowingly and plainly upon this all-important topic.”— Newark Advertiser. 

“The whole book is a complete manual of the subject of which it treats; and we venture to say 
that the builder or contriver of a dwelling, school-house, church, theatre, ship, or steamboat, who neg¬ 
lects to inform himsell of the momentous truths it asserts, commits virtually a crime against society 
and his fellow-creatures.”— N. Y. Metropolis. 

“ When shall we learn to estimate at their proper value, pure water and pure air, which God pro¬ 
vided for man before he made man, and a very long time before he permitted the existence of a doc¬ 
tor ? We commend the Uses and Abuses of Air to our readers, assuring them that they will find it to 
contain directions for the ventilation of dwellings, which every one who values health and comfort 
should put in practice.”— N. Y. Dispatch. 


A 



BRONCHITIS , AND KINDRED DISEASES. 

In language adapted to common readers. By W. W. Hall, M. D. One vol. 
12 mo, price $1.00. 

“It is written in a plain, direct, common-sense style, and is free from the quackery which marks 
many of the popular medical books of the day. It will prove useful to those who need it ”— Ch. Herald. 

“ Those who are clergymen, or who are preparing for the sacred calling, and public speakers gen¬ 
erally, should not fail of securing this work.”— Ch. Ambassador. 

“It is full of hints on the nature of the vital organs, and does away with much superstitious dread in 
regard to consumption.”— Greene County Whig. 

“This work gives some valuable instruction in regard to food and hygienic influences.”— Nashua 
Oasis. 



REICHENBACH ON DYNAMICS. 

Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, Electricity, 
Heat, Light, Crystallization, and Chemism, in their relation to Vital Force: 
By Baron Charles Von Reichenbach. With the Addition of a Preface 
and Critical Notes, by John Ashburner, M. D. With all the Plates. In 
one Volume, 12mo, 456 pp. Price, $1.25. 

“ This book is a valuable addition to scientific knowledge upon subjects that have been involved in 
obscurity and mysticism. Charlatans have so long availed themselves of a slight knowledge of the 
phenomena of magnetism for mercenary purposes, that discredit has been thrown upon the whole 
subject, and men of science have been deterred from pursuing, or at least from publishing their re¬ 
searches. The work before us gives the result of a vast number of experiments conducted with great 
philosophical acumen, testing the truth of both modern theories and ancient superstitions. Phenome¬ 
na attributed in past ages to a supernatural agency, and by the superficial skepticism of later times dis¬ 
missed as mere impostures, are in many instances traced with great clearness to natural and explica¬ 
ble causes. It requires, and is eminently worthy of an attentive perusal .”—City Item. 



redfield’s new and popular publications 


7 


CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY. 

men"OFTHE TIME 

OR SKETCHES OF LIVING NOTABLES, 

AUTHORS ENGINEERS eX PHILANTHROPISTS 

ARCHITECTS JOURNALISTS PREACHERS 

ARTISTS MINISTERS SAVANS 

COMPOSERS MONARCHS STATESMEN 

DEMAGOGUES NOVELISTS TRAVELLERS 

DIVINES POLITICIANS VOYAGERS 

DRAMATISTS POETS WARRIORS 

In One Vol ., 12 mo. containing nearly Nine Hundred Biographical Sketches, 

Price $1.50. 

M I am glad to learn that you are publishing this work. It is precisely that kind of information that 
every public and intelligent man desires to see, especially in reference to the distinguished men of 
Europe, but which I have found it extremely difficult to obtain.”— Extract from a Letter of the President 
of the United States to the publisher. 

“ It forms a valuable manual for reference, especially in the American department, which we can 
not well do without; we commend it to the attention of our ‘ reading public.’ ”— Tribune. 

“ It is a book of reference which every newspaper reader should have at his elbow—as indispensable 
as a map or a dictionary—and from which the best-informed will derive instruction and pleasure.”— 
Evangelist. 

“ This book therefore tills a place in literature; and once published, we do not see how any one 
could do without it.”— Albany Express. 

“It is evidently compiled with great care and labor, and every possible means seems to have been 
used to secure the highest degree of correctness. It contains a great deal of valuable information, and 
is admirable as a book of reference.”— Albany Argus. 

“For a book of reference, this volume will recommend itself as an invaluable companion in the 
library, office, and studio.”— Northern Budget. 

“ We know of no more valuable book to authors, editors, statesmen, and all who would be ‘ up with 
the time,’ than this.” —Spirit of the Times. 

“Men of all nations, creeds and parties, appear to be treated in a kindly spirit. The work will be 
found a useful supplement to the ordinary biographical dictionaries.” —Commercial Advertiser. 

“ The value of such a work can scarcely be over-estimated. To the statesman and philanthropist, 
as well as the scholar and business man, it will be found of great convenience as a reference book, and 
must soon be considered as indispensable to a library as Webster’s Dictionary.”— Lockport Courier. 

“It is a living, breathing epitome of the day, a directory to that wide phantasmagoria we call the 
world."— Wall Street Journal. 


THE MASTER BUILDER; 

Or, Life in the City. By Day Kellogg Lee, author of “ Summerfield, or 
Life on the Farm.” One vol., 12mo, price $1.00. 

“He is a powerful and graphic writer, and from what we have seen of the pages of the ‘Master 
Builder,’ it is a romance of excellent aim and success.”— State Register. 

“ The ‘ Master Builder’ is the master production. It is romance into which is instilled the reality of 
life: and incentives are put forth to noble exertion and virtue. The story is pleasing—almost fascina¬ 
ting ; the moral is pure and undefiled.”— Daily Times. 

“Its descriptions are, many of them, strikingly beautiful; commingling in good proportions, the witty, 
the grotesque, the pathetic, and the heroic. It may be read with profit as well as pleasure.”— Argus. 

“The work will commend itself to the masses, depicting as it does most graphically the struggles 
and privations which await the unknown and uncared-for Mechanic in his journey through life. It is 
what might be called a romance, but not of love, jealousy and revenge order.”— Lockport Courier. 

Jf* 

HAGAR , A STORY OF TO-DAY. 

By Alice Carey, author of “ Clovernook,” “ Lyra, and Other Poems,” &c. 
One vol., 12mo, price $1.00. 

“‘Hagar’ is destined to have a greatrun among the readers of romantic fiction ; in its kind, it is the 
book of the season ; and it has the merit of conveying, with a fearful impressiveness, a lesson in morals 
as just and as striking as the speculation and tendencies of the time have made it necessary.”— Home 
Journal. 

“The story is written in a beautiful style, and is worthy of being read in every well-regulated do¬ 
mestic circle, for while it calls up the finer feelings of the soul, it guides the reader to the superior 
blessings of a reliance on Divine Providence.”— Brooklyn Journal. 




8 


REDFIELD’s NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS. 


SORCERY AND MAGIC; 

Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, from the most authentic Sources. 
as Wright, A. M. &c. One vol., 12mo, price 1.25. 

“ We have no hesitation in pronouncing this one of the most interesting works which has for a lone 
time issued from the press .”—Albany Express. 

*' The narratives are intensely interesting, and the more so, as they are evidently written by a man 
whose object is simply to tell the truth, and who is not himself bewitched by any favorite theory.”— 
New York Recorder. 

“ The range of information in the book is extraordinarily wide, and it is popularly set forth through¬ 
out, without a touch ot pedantry or a dull page.”— Examiner. 

“ Mr. Wright must have devoted much reading and research to produce so comprehensive a view 
ot sorcery and magic, not only in England and Scotland, but in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Swe¬ 
den, and New England .”—Literary Gazette. 



By Thom- 



THE NIGHT-SIDE OF NATURE: 

Or Ghosts and Ghost-Seers. By Catherine Crowe. One vol., 12mo. 

“ This book trents of allegorical dreams, presentiments, trances, apparitions, troubled spirits haunted 
houses, etc., and will he read with interest by many because it comes from a source laying claim to 
considerable talent, and is written by one who really believes all she says, and urges her reasonings 
with a good deal ot earnestness ”—Albany Argus. 

“ Tllis Queer volume has excited considerable attention in England. It is not a catchpenny affair hut 
is an intelligent inquiry into the asserted facts respecting ghcits and apparitions, and a psychological 
discussion upon the reasonableness ot a belief in their existence.”—Poston Post 6 

“ This « n, y a curious but also a very able work. It is one of the most interesting books of the 

season—albeit the reader s hair will occasionally rise on end as he turns over the pages, especially if 
he reads alone far into the night.”— Zion's Herald. ^ y J 



THE CELESTIAL TELEGRAPH: 


Or, Secrets of the World to Come, revealed through Magnetism; wherein the 
Existence, the Form, and the Occupations of the Soul, after its Separation from 
the Body, are proved by Many Years’ Experiments, by the Means of eight 
Ecstatic Somnambulists, who had eighty Perceptions of thirty-six Deceased 
Persons of various Conditions. A description of them, their Conversation, 
etc., with Proofs of their Existence in the Spiritual World. By L. Alpil 
Cahagnet. In one volume, 12mo, 410 pp. Price $1.25. 


• Mr. Cahagnet has certainly placed the human race under a vast debt of obligation to himself bv 
the vast amount of information vouchsafed respecting our hereafter. What we have read in this 
volume has exceedingly interested us in many ways and for many reasons—chiefly, perhaps becau«e 
we have perused it as we would any other able work of fiction. As a work of imagination it is al- 
p 1 " co i? karahle - ^ ome of th « revelations are as marvellous and interesting as those, or’that of 
Otitario Repolii^ 1 '' Comraend thls work to lovers of the wil d incredible in romance.”- 



STTLLING’S PNEUMATOLOGY. 


Theory of Pneumatology ; in Reply to the Qnestion, What ought to be believed 
or disbelieved concerning Presentiments, Visions, and Apparitions, according 
to feature, Reason, and Scripture. By Doct. Joiiann Heinrich Jung-Stil- 
ling. Translated from the German, with copious Notes, by Samuel Jack- 
son. Edited by Rev. George Bush. In one vol., 12mo, 300 pp. Price $]. 




LB Ap '05 























'TV.* <& v To 'o.1‘ A <» *-TV< 4 < 6 r ^s. '••* 



. «■' *4 ^o * * A f c »*s 

!*o« ‘ /3 ^’ • 


o V 



0^ ..«•. **b 

(|> •y 0 * J£’({Y7/?/*2^ -a '"“ < N 

: *t. 0 « ■’bv 4 


^ ’**\iS£* » ^° ^ \ . 

SV# '* ^ Ap V ****' *> V * 


v<v « 




• *• 


* aV^ 

* & %- 



o -<* A v * 

° < >x-V o 


^4 


* S o % 

A^ O ^ 0W °- 0- 

5 ’ * % c\ .0 - * * 

*£>. x"A *• 

° ^ 

" vT> S 


c$ ^ 

* <v* «£> o ( 

y <*y <£* * 


° * A ” ^ . * •/ 7^* S * < G % - ' ° * A 




lA r. ° W °.» "<$>, 



n 4 . t.»„ *^ 0 
0° *‘ - 


>°^ '• 


* 4T ■%» T™*,, 

A ^. '-. . s* 

jA 0 °.“ ° * . ^ 

T •'» ^ A 



«*■ 

*«. ^, 4 

* ^ 0* 

_ / ^ V 

% ^ ‘..V A- -V **<’“" A 1 .. 

> v * 1 **'* c\ ,<y * y *°* *> v 

- ^ . <#>, A . Am* ^ * 

* A^^ J ° c5 'Co o 

o “1/ AyfA \|« * A .V •» °.A». o M 

^ o, •'o.A* A <- ^..s 4 ^> '°.A* 

. t / * . ^ V 0 v . t . *, . 

(•V t sSUtJ. f K D 1A • r-£S\\ <<■ *P (t ^ ^ ^ ,*t 

0 ^ <4 v ^NA>,%^ V. ^ ^ + //fe , ^ <\l 







O' 



^o V 1 




o * i 




O *...’ f o° ^ .„„„o 0° 

5 c\ >o v > v N <o v 

'/^h. <► v r > . X A •" "T**. xA ► 


A 

^ V ^ V * 


"» <K y '^U J 
* A» V*y • 

4 A ^ 



o 

* A,'’ \ „ 

,v ^ *r?rS J? %.. 

(£* o N o * t # ^ 

,A . c -^ v ' r ^ + cP i’ - 4 ° 

^ ^ 0 s 

• ^ O' * 

* 4 o. 

v -OA ^ <" 

_ _ , , , w i k > «J 

^ ^ ^oou o r CV -» 

' V % «* o. <<y » Y • ° 




•*o\? • 



>0 -y 




O' 

A°u 


> -OL" ^ 

* y 



>■ < A ♦ 

*. : 

* °» i 

y <ia ti* * s 
' . . « 4 .(y <2 *° • a 

A . ^ 

0 V * L ' fl -» 


*U. A 


0’ 




4-° %. . 

o "V .» «. 

V. *•’ A V 
> v a •,;.'* 


°< 


O ^ A A <»• 
°. ; 

: ^'V °. 

<, ^-* S Jy Ku 

l ‘ e - r o_ j^A v o 0 w ° ♦ ,o' ., 11 * * o 



o ,,A ,° 

•p <N * 

S “^ ^ ^ v a 0 ^ 

* C^ ♦ rfCvg^A° 0 Ay * ° ^\P * 

A** 






_ <L J <y 

° # Deactdified using the Bookkeeper process. 
4 ’*i!iy-'^\‘' r K { Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide 

x -y- * • 5 a'^ Treatment Date: 

o° ,w^!- °o JUL 1998 






^O v" 



*’o • i ** .A 

A v . •« •. ^ ^ . t... 

A* V 0° o 

• ^ 0 • 


<0 v*, *■ • 4 o■ 

y <t <^y^yj\\ya v A* ^ ^ 

■^v *■ ^ 6 clf 4 * C\ v ^_ 

^ •* 1 * * ® - 0 
.1 > . c • * » 




_ 


'/ a/ 


PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES, LP. 
C 111 Thomson Park Drive 
. ,. Cranberry Township, PA 16066 

(724)779-2111 


V • o 


1* ^ * 

















• ^ •$ 



r- 



s u’ 

" ^ °o 

-y— % 4? °. 

. ^ ,0* t --> -*b ,4> •Jfp •• A- l( . -* 

,'. "V « c ?£&&• / ''^-v V. 0° .WtP; °o 

4 0 * 

> fi\ V 

A* °o "**- ^^fo* Q 0 <£• o *„> 

4 V ... ^ 0-0 A . 0 *» ' " 4 & O , *C Vo ’ 0 

v *'Jmv«P, ^ 4,0 »’•«> O- V s .»vv. ’V >0 ^ 

• Xr> cT .jfiV/}i” +*■ ► 

* ,VA - J 1131 f ,> '.tew. .VA. „ 

O -o'. ■; * ■ <v 'v % '™* ^ ^ •„ 

A \ ''v- v <• • * <G o, "o • * * <\ -*■ * 

■* -. aN v A\Vi^Sl + ^ . v * O <1 h.^ *r* 






* 

vP 9 • j 




- *b p » 

O 5p y> ” 

_ * ^uwxxs^ >» * <?*. * 

•» <i l ’ O j> mXNj 3 • A ■* c *. . _ 

*” ^ °- *•«•• - 0 ^‘rr,-’^ 

A v /A", ^s- ^ ^ 

* V*A 




° <£ ^ c 

* <p o 



* ^ C^ * 

: 


^ ♦ 

* ' ? ^s ^ ♦ 

•> < f 1 , 4 *> 

. ^ o' 

* A °A 
^ N v ^ * 

■0.^ O- A 

» * o u o' A 

Ap v ^ s V/* cv . 

‘ ‘ ^ 

* <v -*' c,<p ivmm. .va 

0 A :^r~S A % -JWI* ^ ^ ‘A 

aV ^ ' * • s aG v o "o . * * A v - 

^ ^ r*0^ ^°-, c oHo ^ ^ 

- 0 / ^ 0 ^ ^ ^ 0 r # ^ 

o. 

' •- •-. \ " ’ yWv* • ° >°W % 

• ^ \/ .m* /* 








•/ $■ %. •„ 




<5 

,? ^ : 

* -Cp U ^>* o 

* A *y ^ _ _ 

v * * * ’ ^G * * * A 

^ ^ 0 '-' V jynl' °° *$y C ° W ° 

• ^ o' • O > 

o \0 v% 

k v ^ ^ 'V^WNS^ 1 ' ^ v^> ‘ 

<1.^ o> * 0 

^ o^ * Ow0 0 ^0^ 

' ♦*^^ 

'ap .G 

•{ ;* VA 

/ 4? % 

> *o. k * A <v 

^o v& c 0 h ® * < ^‘>. 

N v «5sxv \\* 'V 




o 

* A? 0 

*-ur^ > a 4? & *"e 

'••• A %. '■ 

% ^ c° °o 

<r *7. ♦ dfV f/f?-} 

■ * 4 v ^Ul//y / ^> * 

^ o' 





c£» 2^ /U * <t-P <T\ o>^ « A 

^ °^o •..•• a0° 

\> V v *• VL^ cv ,<y , 

•-. v/ /iab\ v 


- c.G o 

* <L V ri* - 


V. 











